John,
Stop Trump’s march toward martial law in our cities.
The militarization of America’s cities is the direct antithesis of democracy -- and Donald Trump is making it his strategy for the months ahead. What he calls “law and order” is in fact an orchestrated campaign to replace civilian authority with military control, using fear and division as weapons to prepare the country for an even darker turn before next year’s midterm elections.
Trump has already deployed ICE and military units to more than a dozen cities, targeting immigrant neighborhoods and communities that didn’t vote for him. These raids are not about crime -- they are political theater meant to provoke chaos and justify an even heavier hand. He’s transforming American neighborhoods into occupied zones, where the “cop on the beat” is replaced by heavily armored vehicles and Blackhawk helicopters.
At Quantico, Trump bragged to military leaders that he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, “We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our National Guard.” That chilling statement exposes the truth: these aren’t policing actions. They are dress rehearsals for martial law.
Tell Kristi Noem and the Department of Homeland Security: End the ICE raids. Stop the militarization of American cities. Restore civilian rule before it’s too late.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is spearheading this project, directing ICE to conduct racially motivated detentions based on accent, job, or appearance. In Chicago, agents rappelled from Blackhawk helicopters onto a residential apartment building in a pre-dawn raid, to rip families apart. This is not democracy. This is a regime that is ruling by force.
Trump’s intention is not safety -- it’s domination. By militarizing local streets, he seeks to provoke unrest, then use that unrest to justify further crackdowns. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle of control, drawn straight from the dictators’ playbook.
If this were truly about reducing violence, the administration would be investing in housing, education, and healthcare -- not armored vehicles and flashbangs. But Trump’s America is a place where communities are treated like battlefields, and dissent is treated as a crime.
Democracy depends on civilian governance, not rule by force. We must reject this descent into militarized authoritarianism before it becomes permanent. America cannot become a nation that turns its soldiers against its own people.
Tell Kristi Noem: Stop using military troops and ICE to invade and disrupt American cities.
Thank you for standing up for democracy -- and for communities that deserve peace, not occupation.
-DFA AF Team
