Comment guest written by
Kevin Johnson
Kevin R. Johnson is an eminent professor of public interest law and Chicano studies at UC Davis. He was dean of the UC Davis School of Law from 2008 to 24.
A classic confrontation on the application of immigration continues to intensify in California. Despite strong objections of Governor Gavin Newsom and the mayor of Los Angeles Karen Bass, President Donald Trump mobilized the California National Guard And Marines in Los Angeles to ensure that federal immigration operations can take place without incident.
While the manifestations persist – sometimes with violent consequences – it is difficult to imagine a more controversial confrontation between the state and the federal authority on the third political rail, immigration.
Although the use of the military by President Trump can be unprecedented to help the ice stop immigrants on their workplaces, their churches and their courthouses, the mass moves of the Latinos have occurred several times in American history. Important lessons can be drawn from these expulsion efforts. In addition to injuring vulnerable immigrants, measures have had long -term political consequences, some even benefiting immigrants.
Neither Newsom nor Bass asked for help from the National Guard – not to mention the navies. In fact, they feared that the involvement of the US military will only have a potentially incendiary situation. The last time a president deployed the National Guard without request from the State was to apply civil rights laws in 1965. Trump declares that the demonstrators are “insurrectionists”, They see themselves defending the civil rights of immigrants.
There is little evidence that federal immigration agents needed protection against the demonstrators. On the contrary, the vast majority of them were peaceful and simply wanted it to be known that they are opposed to the extreme measures of the application of immigration to the Trump administration.
Southern California operations in recent weeks have a strange resemblance Mexican repatriation campaign during the great depression. Federal, state and local governments have worked together to withdraw people from Mexican ancestry – American citizens and immigrants – with mass arrests in the heart of Los Angeles, near what is Olvera Street, which ironically pays homage to the Mexican roots of the city.
The political objective was to calm domestic dissent by saving jobs and public advantages for so-called real Americans. It is estimated that 1 million people, some of whom were self-supported, have been removed from the country.
The Trump administration obviously considers the media coverage of the army walking in the streets of Los Angeles as a useful ad for its mass expulsion campaign. As the publications on the social networks of senior officials of the high -level administration suggest, they obviously believe that the use of soldiers to help enforce the law and order, targeting many Latinos, will help the republican electoral prospects.
There is a precedent for the use of immigration as a political political tool. In 1994, the governor of California Pete Wilson, a republican, won the re -election by taking behind Proposal 187An anti-immigrant voting measure which would have prohibited undocumented students from public schools, refused them all the public benefits and had forced police officers to verify the immigration status of all those they met.
Although the initiative was adopted by a margin of 2 to 1, a court declared the unconstitutional law and judged that it Entered on federal power To regulate immigration.
Prop. 187 marked the death of the Death of the Republican Party in California (as well as Wilson’s political career). The Latinos mobilized, naturalized immigrants and the participation rate has skyrocketed. They elected Democratic legislators in record numbers, including many Latinos. California later declare yourself to be a sanctuary state.
Immigration law measures for Curry Political support are nothing new for American policy or for Latinos in the United States. But history teaches us that Trump immigration measures will have devastating impacts on the Latin American community and in the long term, a political price will be paid.