Senator Wiener’s Statement on Trump’s Lawless Police State Escalation in Los Angeles
“They can threaten us all they want—we will not back down from protecting our immigrant neighbors.”
SACRAMENTO – Over the weekend, the Trump Administration illegally federalized California’s National Guard, threatened to illegally arrest Governor Newsom and other elected officials, and illegally sent 500 Marines to police an American city in purported response to protests against escalating ICE raids and large-scale deportations.
Senator Wiener issued the following statement in response:
“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles — and now other parts of California — is straight up police state fascism. Trump is a President, bound by the rule of law, but he is acting like a king. He is not a king, and we must fight against his lawless actions. San Francisco stands united with our brothers and sisters in Los Angeles, arm in arm, against Trump’s brutal, fascist tactics.
“ICE’s escalating paramilitary raids are deeply inhumane and un-American. ICE is targeting workers who make our clothes, build our homes, and grow our food. They’re rounding up families at the courthouse where their cases are being heard, including children as young as three. They’re attacking valued community members who play an essential role in making California the prosperous and vibrant place it is. They’re targeting with criminal prosecution one of our top statewide labor leaders, David Huerta. San Francisco’s leadership is united in our commitment to protect the hard-working immigrants and workers who make our city and our state run.
“They can threaten us all they want — we will not back down from protecting our immigrant neighbors.
“This terror campaign would be reason enough to protest. But the Trump Administration’s outrageous response to protests against ICE raids threatens to tear apart our democracy and create a police state and even martial law. In America, we don’t send the military to police our citizens or threaten to jail elected officials — those are the tactics of a dictator, and they represent a direct assault on American liberty. Now is the time to roundly reject these authoritarian moves by a lawless, criminal President.
“California has a long history of peaceful protest, and there is absolutely no need for the federal government to intervene when that intervention is neither needed nor wanted. Trump is trying to exploit the situation as an excuse to justify further power grabs and extreme measures that tear communities apart, in the name of a vile, authoritarian ideological crusade.
“I thank the Governor and the Attorney General for taking swift court action to stop these lawless actions, and I stand behind them wholeheartedly in our state’s fight against this fascist overreach.”
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