Fascist Governors Move to Deploy Their Own Military Forces on the Border in Blatant Opposition to Federal Policy

July 5, 2021 | revcom.us

 

In a move that could have huge potential ramifications, the fascist governors of South Dakota and Arkansas have pledged to send, or actually have sent, National Guard troops to Texas to answer the request of the fascist governor there, Greg Abbott, as well as Arizona fascist governor Doug Ducey, to prevent an “invasion” by refugees and to defend “our sovereignty and territorial integrity.” The governors of Florida and Nebraska have pledged to send local or state police forces.

While the actual deployments are at this point not large, these fascist state governors are essentially challenging federal government control over border and immigration policies (which is designated by the U.S. Constitution) by deploying military force under their command to implement their own policy on the border. This is a continuation and even an escalation of the MAGA fascists’ refusal to recognize that Trump lost the election, their efforts to rig future elections through voter suppression, and their broad campaign to demonize and delegitimize the Biden administration.

These new fascist moves on the border could open the door to new levels of racist brutality and perhaps atrocities against immigrants and Latino people overall. Though all the governors have been extremely vague about what the National Guard troops will actually do at the border, the legal mechanism being used for this deployment means that these units will be under the command of the Texas governor, not the federal government. And the Abbott-Ducey letter states that forces sent from other states will have police powers, including “the power to arrest migrants” who these out-of-town warriors believe to be “illegal.”¹

In addition, according to Military Times, “It’s likely that the 50 [South Dakota] troops selected for the mission will be volunteers.” So it is also likely that many of these troops will be looking forward to the chance to hunt immigrants in the deserts and mountains of the border area.

At a June 30 appearance with Trump at the Texas-Mexico border (with the notorious Trump “Wall” as backdrop), Abbott claimed that “The Biden administration has abandoned its responsibility to apply federal law to secure the border.” This was a lie—in reality, the Biden administration has left the core of Trump’s vicious anti-immigrant policy in effect.² At the same time, there has been some “softening” of these policies, as well as a different “tone”—the Biden administration talks about refugees with some fake sympathy (while still denying them entry³). But none of these forces within the ruling class have any answers that are in the real interests of humanity or to the hell that the masses of immigrants and refugees are facing.

A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution makes the point that. “Society is being ripped apart. Those who rule are locked in a bitter fight among themselves, and they cannot hold things together in the way they have in the past.” It goes on to discuss the way in which these conflicts are tearing within the institutions of society. This kind of action—which is both directly threatening but is perhaps more significant for the dynamic it sets in motion of governors marshaling military force to pursue their own policy on immigration—is a sharp example of that.

These people—the fascist leaders and their followers—are moving. We cannot afford not to move with even more urgency to build up revolutionary forces, preparing to defeat them as part of moving to end this entire system that spawned them.

 

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1. According to the Washington Post, “About 3,600 service members are already on the border supporting Department of Homeland Security operations, the vast majority of whom are National Guard troops carrying out federal orders, defense officials said.” Federalized National Guard troops do not have legal power to arrest or other police powers. As the Post notes, “Abbott’s request [for National Guard troops from other states], and Noem’s fulfillment, is for a separate state-led mission overseen by Texas officials.”  [back]

2. See Trump-era policy Biden administration uses to expel migrants faces uncertain future, CNN, May 5, 2021.  [back]

3. See Kamala Harris Slams Door in Face of Desperate Guatemalan Immigrants: DO NOT COME!, revcom.us, June 14, 2021.  [back]

Here, Governor Noem of South Dakota with some of the 50 National Guard being deployed to the border. These new fascist moves on the border could open the door to new levels of racist brutality and perhaps atrocities against immigrants and Latino people overall.