Colorado put on notice by military deployment against civilians
Poncho Espino, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, speaks to the crowd during an anti-ICE protest at the Colorado Capitol on Tuesday. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline)
The threat that the Trump administration would illegally deploy military forces in Colorado to advance its authoritarian agenda has loomed over the state for months.
Now that the president has ordered troops into action against protests in California that local authorities insist were already under control, Colorado is increasingly at risk of similar federal incursions. But while the likelihood of such escalation has gone up, the state appears no better prepared to do anything to stop it.
Trump administration officials, including the president, have openly said since before the November election they would deploy military units for domestic law enforcement purposes, including immigration enforcement and against protesters. They weren't bluffing.
In recent days, the administration deployed active duty Marines and thousands of California National Guard troops, against the will of the state's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, in response to protests in Los Angeles. Protesters object to the escalating and cruel tactics used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents as part of a mass deportation program.
Though some violence and vandalism has accompanied the protests, local authorities say they were mostly peaceful and that they can handle the situation without the help of war-trained fighters. But President Donald Trump appeared eager to pounce on this pretext. He used L.A. as a 'test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state, or away from local government,' said Mayor Karen Bass.
That means Colorado is on notice.
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Trump during his campaign and in his second term in office often has singled out Colorado as a target for aggressive immigration enforcement. His administration has sued Colorado and Denver, alleging they have enacted unconstitutional 'sanctuary' policies for immigrants, and ICE has conducted multiple raids and other operations in the state.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who is commander-in-chief of the Colorado National Guard, in some instances has said he would not condone National Guard troops, from Colorado or another state, being used for immigration enforcement. Last month he said he would have 'deep reservations' about such a deployment, a statement that fell short of a refusal. This week a spokesperson for Polis told Newsline that 'the Governor has been clear that he would not support federal overreach to activate the National Guard outside of regular order.'
But if his preparation for a possible showdown over military deployments in Colorado goes beyond statements, it's not public. In contrast, at least one other Democratic governor, Bob Ferguson in Washington, met with his state's National Guard commander to discuss the situation in L.A. and how leaders could respond to such abuses in their state.
And Polis' posture on immigration abounds in contradiction. The Democrat has aligned himself with aspects of Trump's mass deportation efforts. A state official this month alleged in a lawsuit that Polis improperly directed the state Labor Department to release the personal information of sponsors of unaccompanied immigrant children to ICE. Polis too often lets his inner MAGA show, and that leaves Colorado residents with little confidence he'll effectively resist if Trump sics military forces against them.
A memo that Trump issued Saturday federalizing thousands of National Guard members and authorizing use of the regular military around ICE operations does not limit its scope to L.A., and it covers any 'violence and disorder' that might 'threaten to continue.'
ICE is preparing to escalate tactics, starting in five Democratically run locations — Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, Northern Virginia and New York — MSNBC reported Tuesday. Newsom, in a defiant televised address Tuesday, warned, 'California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next.'
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, a Democratic resident of Centennial, who represents a district that includes the ICE detention center in Aurora, sounded a similar warning this week.
'The President's order doesn't even mention California, and authorizes the use of ANY personnel, in ANY location, for ANY length of time,' Crow wrote on social media. 'This is a dangerous slippery slope that should concern Americans everywhere.'
Meanwhile, Republican state representative and Colorado governor candidate Scott Bottoms promises to deploy military units against fellow Coloradans if he's elected, and Trump sycophant U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Windsor has repeatedly cheered the domestic military deployments in California.
Opposition to ICE in Colorado is growing. On Tuesday, protesters clashed briefly with Denver police, who fired chemical munitions to clear a street and arrested 17 people. The presence of military units almost certainly would have exacerbated the conflict. And Coloradans have little assurance state leaders would do much to preclude a military presence in the first place.
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