The Trump Administration Continues the Rapid Erosion of American Democracy and Rule of Law

Access online version of this press release HERE

Washington, DC — From announcing a federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police department and deploying the National Guard into the city to ICE officers arresting and detaining US citizens and long-standing, law-abiding immigrant community members, the Trump administration’s continued escalated attacks on this country’s democracy to push their anti-immigrant and mass deportation agenda have only intensified in recent weeks.

According to Joanna Kuebler, America’s Voice Chief of Programs:

“As we have said before: the massive effort by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller to purge America of immigrants is a smokescreen. When the smoke clears, the real agenda is to escalate an assault on American democracy and the rule of law. The tactics are insidious: using racial profiling under the guise of immigration enforcement; militarizing law enforcement from Los Angeles to D.C. to instill fear and sweep up long-time community members in raids; threatening deportation to American citizens who don’t bend to their will. This administration has shown it will stop at nothing to reshape America in the preferred MAGA image.

These are not isolated incidents. They are calculated steps toward consolidating power, silencing dissent, and reshaping our country into something that increasingly resembles authoritarian rule. This is a direct threat to every American.”

See below for key stories on the Trump administration’s growing threat to democracy:

• States Newsroom, “Trump’s mass deportations opened the door for deploying National Guard in D.C.,” noted, “President Donald Trump’s move to deploy 800 National Guard members in the District of Columbia over claims that crime is plaguing the city – despite historic lows – follows his use of the military in his administration’s growing immigration crackdown. (D.C.’s) out of control, but we’re going to put it in control very quickly, like we did on the southern border,’ Trump said at a Monday press conference where he was flanked by members of his Cabinet, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. He vowed to do the same in more cities governed by Democrats.”
• CNBC, “Trump puts Washington, DC, police under federal control, deploys National Guard,” noted, “President Donald Trump on Monday placed the Washington, D.C., police department under federal control and deployed 800 National Guard troops in the capital city to address what he claimed was out-of-control crime there. It is the first time that a president has federalized the Metropolitan Police Department. Trump’s move drew fierce condemnation from local officials, who noted that official statistics show crime in D.C. is on the decline.”
• The Latin Times, “Trump Administration Pushes to Use Spanish Language as Grounds for Immigration Stops in California,” noted, “The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow immigration enforcement agents in Southern California to continue detaining individuals based in part on factors such as speaking Spanish, working certain jobs, or being present in specific locations. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong last month barred Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from making stops primarily based on race, ethnicity, language, occupation, or presence in certain locations. To back her claims she cited a ‘mountain of evidence’ showing that agents were conducting indiscriminate stops, including on U.S. citizens, without reasonable suspicion. The court found that the agency had targeted Latino individuals, including people encountered at farms, bus stops, and day laborer sites.”
• NBC News, “U.S. citizen detained by ICE in L.A. says she wasn’t given water for 24 hours,” noted, “A U.S. citizen who was detained by immigration agents and accused of obstructing an arrest before her case was ultimately dismissed said she is still traumatized by what happened. [Andrea Velez] was charged with assaulting a federal officer while he was attempting to arrest a suspect. The Justice Department dismissed her case without prejudice. She was taken to a detention center in downtown Los Angeles, where she gave officers her driver’s license and her health insurance card, but she was still booked into jail, she said. She said she spent two days in the detention center, where she had nothing to drink for 24 hours. Velez said that the ordeal traumatized her and that she has not been able to physically return to work. ‘I’m taking things day by day,’ she told NBC Los Angeles.”
• Newsweek, “ICE Detains Restaurant Owner Mom for Over Two Months After 21 Years in US,” noted, “Kelly Yu, the owner of Kawaii Sushi in Peoria, Arizona, had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since May following a routine immigration check-in after entering the United States from China illegally decades ago. Yu’s detention underscores how federal immigration enforcement could affect long-term residents and small-business owners who had built deep ties in their communities, including families with U.S. citizen children—as Yu has children who were born here.”