Attention, Walmart Shoppers: Big Sis Wants You to Spy on One Another (njtoday.net)

NEW YORK – The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the Trump administration plans to deploy military troops to Chicago against a made-up crime wave. President Trump has also renewed his threats to deploy troops in Baltimore, San Francisco, and New York City, despite state governors’ objections. This comes amidst news that some National Guard troops in D.C. are now armed and, separately, that 19 states are planning to mobilize up to 1,700 of their National Guard troops in the coming weeks to assist the Department of Homeland Security’s drive to detain and deport millions of people. The following is a statement from Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project: “President Trump is manufacturing ‘emergencies’ to expand his power and create fear in major American cities. Regardless of whether the president cites false crime statistics, villainizes immigrants, or claims peaceful protest is insurrection, sending armed federal agents and military troops into our communities is unjustified and dangerous. “President Trump’s escalating threats directly undermine our foundational value that the military should not be policing civilians, create legal jeopardy for servicemembers and federal agents, and put regular people going about their lives at high risk of having their rights violated. Governors and other state and local leaders must stay strong and take all lawful measures to protect their residents against the president’s repeated attempts to intimidate us.”

Policymakers are beginning to recognize that the boundaries between local surveillance and the Trump Administration are hard to maintain

Build it (an authoritarian tracking infrastructure) and they (expanded uses) will come

WASHINGTON — With additional state National Guard troops deploying to D.C. as untrained federal law enforcement agents perform local police duties in city streets, the American Civil Liberties Union is issuing a stark reminder to all federal and military officials that — no matter what uniform they wear or what authority they claim — they are bound by the U.S. Constitution and all federal and local laws. Over the weekend, the Trump administration declared that state National Guard troops would be called in to Washington, and the governors of West Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina announced they are deploying hundreds of their National Guard troops to the nation's capital on top of the 800 D.C. National Guard troops who were already activated by President Trump. The Wall Street Journal reported that in a major shift, these troops may receive orders “to start carrying weapons in the coming days.” National Guard troops are generally not trained in local policing or de-escalation and should never be used for federal immigration purposes. President Trump has also ordered FBI personnel and other federal officers, who similarly are not trained for local policing, to patrol the city. He earlier promised to let police “do whatever the hell they want” — raising grave concerns about civil rights abuses, particularly for Black, Brown, and unhoused residents. “Through his manufactured emergency, President Trump is engaging in dangerous political theater to expand his power and sow fear in our communities. Sending heavily armed federal agents and National Guard troops from hundreds of miles away into our nation’s capital is unnecessary, inflammatory, and puts people’s rights at high risk of being violated,” said Hina Shamsi, director of ACLU’s National Security Project. “Governors need to understand that with each order, the Trump administration increases legal and ethical jeopardy for state troops being deployed. No matter what uniform they wear, federal agents and military troops are bound by the Constitution, including our rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, due process, and safeguards against unlawful searches and seizures. If troops or federal agents violate our rights, they must be held accountable.” On Friday, D.C. sued the administration to block its order asserting federal authority over the city’s police department, saying it violated the Home Rule Act. After a federal court hearing on Friday afternoon, Attorney General Bondi rescinded her most brazen order undermining D.C.’s home rule, thereby allowing the D.C. police commissioner to remain at her post over the D.C. police department. “The deployment of out-of-state National Guard troops and more federal agents onto D.C. streets is a brazen abuse of power meant to intimidate and create fear in the nation’s capital. This is an unnecessary overstep to micromanage D.C. under a phony emergency, causing real harm to residents and visitors — all to advance the Trump administration’s political agenda.” said Monica Hopkins, executive director of ACLU of D.C. “The ACLU-D.C. will continue to monitor the use of D.C. police and federal law enforcement to ensure that the constitutional rights of our community are protected. We need the nation to join us in the fight for statehood so that D.C. residents are treated like those in every other state and have the same guardrails against federal overreach.”