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As Donald Trump and his allies in Congress weaponize the government to target officials who defy the president’s authoritarian ambitions of incarcerating and deporting immigrants with little to no oversight, a group of state and local Democrats is attempting to form a firewall of sorts, vowing to resist the administration’s threats and intimidation tactics.
Trump’s blatant use of the Justice Department to attack his political opponents has been a defining piece of his second term thus far. Earlier this month, his administration arrested Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and charged Rep. LaMonica McIver of New Jersey with assault after the officials visited a migrant detention center in Newark. (A judge dismissed the trespassing charge against Baraka last week. McIver has pleaded not guilty and disputes the DOJ's characterization of her interaction with immigration agents.) The charges prompted Democrats nationwide, and at varying levels of government, to fear they too could soon find themselves in similar crosshairs for simply doing their jobs.
In a co-signed statement, 192 Democratic officials at the state and local level across the country — ranging from city council members, to county commissioners, to state legislators, school board members and mayors — said they’re “outraged” by the charges against McIver and the administration’s use of law enforcement to seemingly curtail oversight of, or opposition toward, Trump’s policies.
The statement, coordinated by progressive activist groups Working Families Power, SiX Action, and Local Progress, reads:
“These charges are a serious escalation by the Trump Administration in its effort to threaten and intimidate elected officials. We will not be silenced or deterred by the Trump administration’s attacks on our rights as elected representatives nor on our ability and obligation to carry out the work of the people. We will execute our duties while standing against unlawful or coercive threats of arrest, legal action or investigation from the administration. The constituents in our communities are our bosses, not the president or his lackeys.
The statement doesn’t name any of the so-called lackeys, but it’s worth noting here that Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, has repeatedly suggested that Democrats who impede the president’s mass deportation agenda — or even those who provide information to immigrant communities — could face some sort of criminal punishment. And scandal-plagued Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., recently announced a House investigation into Nashville's mayor, after Ogles baselessly suggested the mayor may have been "aiding and abetting" illegal immigration.
The statement also highlights the broader trend of conservatives circumventing democratic processes to dislodge or otherwise disempower officials whose politics they don’t agree with, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plucking elected prosecutors from their positions over political disagreements, and the conservative-led expulsion of Tennessee state Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who are Black, from their positions in 2023 -- moves that were ultimately reversed by representatives in their districts.
It reads:
Over the past several years, there’s been a growing effort by extremists to silence, censure, investigate and even remove state and local officials simply for doing their jobs. From Florida prosecutors removed from their posts by Governor Ron DeSantis, to state legislators in Montana, Oklahoma and Tennessee censured by their bodies, elected leaders are under threat. Most recently, Trump has weaponized the federal government to go after Milwaukee Judge Hannah Dugan and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty — a serious escalation of his war against local officials doing their jobs. This is not how a democracy is supposed to operate and we must oppose these threats.
American history is replete with instances of far-right figures using the federal government to persecute or purge defiant officials or people simply seen as incompatible with their warped worldview. And it seems these 192 Democrats don't want to be the latest example.