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Throwing in a quick post because I'm surprised it hasn't been discussed here (unless I missed it!), Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago sets up "ICE-free zones" in Chicago.
This comes on the heels of Trump sending in the national guard after Chicago PD apparently wouldn't help ICE agents under attack. I haven't read all the stuff about this scenario, but on the surface level it seems pretty bad, I have to say.
There's a video clip where that mayor is saying that Republicans want a "redo of the Civil War," amongst other incredibly inflammatory things. The Governor of Illinois is apparently backing the mayor up.
This refusal to help ICE and even outright claim that you're fighting a war with them I mean... I suppose Democrats have been doing it for a while. This seems... bad. I mean sure you can sugarcoat it and point to legal statues and such, but fundamentally if the local governments of these places are going to agitate so directly against the President, I can't blame Trump for sending in the national guard.
Obviously with the two party system we have a line and such, but man, it's a shame that our politicians have fully embraced the heat-over-light dynamics of the culture war, to the point where they really are teetering on the brink of starting a civil war. Not the social media fear-obsessed "civil war" people have been saying has already started, but real national guard vs. local pd or state military type open warfare. I just don't understand going this far, unless the Mayor of Chicago thinks that he can get away with it and Trump will back down.
Even then, brinksmanship of this type seems totally insane!
I suppose Newsom in CA has been doing it too, now that I mention it. Sigh. I hope that we can right this ship because man, I do not want to have to fight in a civil war I have to say. Having studied history, it's a lot more horrible than you might think.
Why's Trump sending red state national guard units into blue cities? It's obviously a performative provocation which his base is lapping up.
The guy doing most to fan the flames of civil war is the President himself.
Because, according to Trump, the blue cities are allowing violence against Federal immigration authorities in those cities.
I realize that it’s probably more complicated, but that sounds like a real own goal for states’ rights enthusiasts.
I’m not clear on what all the federal government gets to compel from its subsidiaries. I have the vague impression it’s whatever it wants, but only if it threatens to withhold highway funding.
States rights has never been about preventing the feds from enforcing legitimate federal laws. It has been about saying certain laws are illegitimate (not applicable to immigration), certain laws are unwise on the federal level (same), and that the federal government can't force states to enforce laws they dont consider moral (also no applicable unless there is a new U of I Law Review article I am unaware of arguing arson, aggravated battery, and and attempt murder should be decriminalized).
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As someone who leans more to states rights than not - I don’t think it is, actually.
The usual answer would be that each level of government is responsible for what only it can handle, and nothing more (in an ideal world). Territorial Sovereignty (whether that be through border control, military action, international trade, etc) are exactly the sort of things a federal government should be the authority on.
That being said, I’m Canadian, and I have no idea if that’s how it works out in practice in the US - but it is at least not inconsistent.
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The states are not (formally) subsidiaries to the Federal Government, and the anti-commandeering doctrine means the Federal Government cannot compel states to assist it in enforcement of Federal law. However, this does not mean states can forbid the Feds from enforcing Federal law themselves, nor interfere with that enforcement. In these cases the Feds have been enforcing Federal law themselves, and the interference has been from private parties ("protestors"), not the state governments. The Feds, then claim the authority to bring in the National Guard to protect their own law enforcement officers -- this is the "protective power" which is somewhat controversial but not unprecedented.
Note that the various [StateName] National Guards, despite the names, are not actually state entities; they are under dual control -- normally state control, but they can be "federalized" under various conditions.
Lurking not very far in the background is the Insurrection Act, which allows the use of the military (including but not limited to the National Guard) when the President declares certain conditions have been met.
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