Civil War Conditions Evident in the
United States
U.S. Federal, State and Local Clashes on Immigration
- Voice of Revolution -
The federal government is clashing with states and local
police and sheriffs as it tries to use immigration enforcement to
integrate the many policing agencies in the country into a
federal command structure. Currently at the border with Mexico,
for example, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are demanding that all the
local forces join them in immigration enforcement. At this time,
they too are to come under military control. It is a live
exercise in federal authority, including the military, over all
others.
Along with broad united actions by the people both sides
of
the border and in cities and towns across the country defending
immigrant rights, various states and counties are also opposing
federal action. At times this takes the form of state laws, like
those in Utah, Colorado, New York, California and Washington
which in various ways stand against federal actions. Utah's
recently passed law, for example, blocks the federal government
from automatically deporting people convicted of misdemeanors
that carry a sentence of one year or more (see below). California
and New York are sanctuary states and have similar laws to
Utah's.
 Elsewhere, resistance is at the
county and local area, by
sheriffs refusing to cooperate with ICE. In those situations,
along with threats, ICE and similar federal authorities work with
state legislatures to pass laws requiring cooperation. These are
being resisted, not only by the communities impacted, but by the
sheriffs themselves. North Carolina is one such example.
These clashes are significant in a situation where Trump
has
already declared a "national emergency" on the southern border
and could declare one more broadly. Or he could declare martial
law in the name of "national security." Then the military openly
takes control at the state and local level.
As resistance among the people broadens and even other
policing agencies oppose federal action, the need for control, by
the Commander-in-Chief, of all the policing agencies at all
levels increases. The already continuing resistance by various
authorities, whether state legislatures or sheriffs or local
police show, these clashes are increasing. They are part of the
growing conditions of civil war, currently still hidden but
conditions that could develop into an open violent conflict among
the rulers as they vie for power.
It is a situation where every effort will be made to
intimidate and threaten resistance and call on all to instead
line up behind one or the other faction. State forces, like
Governor Cuomo, for example, presents himself as "pro-immigrant,"
while on the ground ICE and other policing agencies across the
state, but especially in New York City, are notorious for their
anti-immigrant, anti-youth stand. The solution does not lie with
the rich and their contending interests. Rather it lies with
stepping up the organized resistance defending the rights of
all.
This article was published in
Volume 49 Number 14 - April 20, 2019
Article Link:
Civil War Conditions Evident in the
United States: U.S. Federal, State and Local Clashes on Immigration - Voice of Revolution
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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