They're Building Military Control of American Cities
And Counting on Us to Not See the Big Picture
Picture this: 90 armed federal troops and 17 military Humvees descending on MacArthur Park in Los Angeles on a summer afternoon, displacing children at day camp. Their target? Nobody. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called it exactly what it was: "a political agenda of provoking fear and terror."¹
That wasn't immigration enforcement gone wrong. That was a test run for something much bigger.
On July 4th, 2025, while Americans celebrated Independence Day, Trump signed into law the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" - legislation that provides $170 billion for border security and immigration enforcement.² But follow the money, and you'll see the real purpose: the financial infrastructure for a systematic assault on local democratic governance.
Trump isn't just conducting immigration enforcement. He's building the legal precedents, operational capabilities, and financial infrastructure to override democratic elections through federal military control. Each component serves a specific purpose in this authoritarian playbook.
And I Say, Oh HELL, No
The voters in New York City are about to choose their mayor, knowing that the president has already declared he might override their choice if he doesn't like the outcome.³ The residents of Washington D.C., who've had limited self-governance since 1973, are watching even that small measure of democracy threatened by a president who wants to "run" their city directly from the White House.⁴ The teachers and day camp counselors who had to evacuate children from MacArthur Park when federal troops arrived to arrest nobody got a preview of what "federal control" looks like - while Trump got the operational footage he now references when threatening other cities.¹
Let's call this what it is: the systematic destruction of American federalism through militarized intimidation.
Trump is threatening to "run" cities whose elections produce results he doesn't like - not immigration enforcement, but authoritarian conquest.³ He's forcing local officials into compliance by threatening federal takeover while dangling the possibility of cooperation - not governance, but coercion designed to predetermine electoral outcomes. He's deploying thousands of troops to "protect" heavily armed federal agents from protesters - not security, but training for urban military occupation.⁵
The officials responsible have names and they've made specific, documented choices. Trump personally threatened to arrest, denaturalize, and deport New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani because he doesn't like the candidate's politics.⁶ Stephen Miller designed the quota system that treats human beings as arrest statistics while building the detention infrastructure to hold entire communities.⁷ Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the deployment of combat-armed troops in American neighborhoods while calling immigration critics "terrorists."⁸
This is authoritarianism - the use of government force to override democratic elections and terrorize civilian populations into compliance.
Here's What They Don't Want Us to Focus On
Trump has built a four-part system for federal control over American cities. Each component establishes legal precedents and operational capabilities that enable the others. Understanding how they work together reveals the scope of the threat to democratic governance.
Part 1: Militarize Federal Land to Normalize Military Policing
In April, Trump transferred jurisdiction of the Roosevelt Reservation - a 60-foot strip of federal land established by Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 - from the Interior Department to the Defense Department in New Mexico, Arizona, and California, creating "national defense areas" where military personnel can directly detain and search civilians.⁹ The Pentagon announced a second militarized zone in Texas in May.¹⁰ Over 200 migrants have already been charged with the new federal crime of "trespassing on military property" for crossing this 60-foot-wide strip.¹¹
This isn't about border security - it's about establishing the legal precedent that military personnel can conduct law enforcement activities against civilians. These zones prove the concept works and provide legal cover for expanding military policing to other federal properties.
Part 2: Deploy Military Forces to Cities Using Immigration as Justification
Trump deployed over 4,700 troops to Los Angeles, claiming they needed to protect heavily armed federal immigration agents from protesters.⁵ Sheriff Robert Luna confirmed that no immigration raid actually took place at locations where major protests erupted - federal agents were simply "staging" at adjacent offices.¹² The 90 troops and 17 Humvees at MacArthur Park arrested nobody but provided training in military occupation of civilian spaces.¹
Los Angeles now serves as a training ground where federal forces learn urban occupation tactics, test legal justifications, and perfect community intimidation strategies. With federal courts still debating whether the deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act, the operation continues indefinitely, providing ongoing operational experience.¹³
Part 3: Threaten Direct Federal Control Over Democratic Cities
During a Cabinet meeting on July 8th, Trump declared: "We have tremendous power at the White House to run places when we have to," specifically threatening to take over New York City if Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the mayoral race.³ He's already pressuring Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser into participating in a federal control pilot program.⁴
The targeting is nakedly political. Trump threatens only Democratic-majority cities - New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. - while leaving Republican-controlled areas untouched regardless of their immigration policies or crime rates. For New York City, Trump has no clear legal authority to "run" the city regardless of electoral outcomes. For Washington D.C., the 1973 Home Rule Act provides limited self-governance that Congress could theoretically revoke, but using that authority to override election results would represent an unprecedented assault on democratic participation.¹⁴
Part 4: Fund the System with Massive Detention Infrastructure
The $170 billion in the "One Big Beautiful Bill" provides the financial foundation for sustaining these operations indefinitely.² The National Immigration Forum breaks down the funding: $45 billion for detention capacity (enough for 116,000 beds), $29.9 billion for ICE enforcement operations, and $46.5 billion for border wall construction.¹⁵ This represents a 308% increase in ICE's detention budget compared to 2024.¹⁵
Stephen Miller is demanding 3,000 arrests per day regardless of actual criminal activity to fill this detention infrastructure.⁷ The 116,000 detention beds would create an immigration detention system nearly as large as the entire federal prison system, which currently holds about 155,000 people.¹⁶ You don't need detention capacity equivalent to the entire federal prison system for border security - you need that infrastructure for mass detention of people living in American communities that resist federal political control.
The timing reveals the strategy. The border militarization establishes legal precedents for military policing. The Los Angeles deployment provides operational training and capabilities. The threats to New York and D.C. test political resistance. The massive funding ensures the system can operate indefinitely while expanding to additional cities.
What We Deserve
We deserve federal immigration enforcement that operates within constitutional bounds and respects local democratic governance. That means American cities free from military presence, detention infrastructure designed to house criminals found guilty by due process, and federal agents operating transparently with warrants, clearly visible identity, and unmasked faces when conducting operations in civilian neighborhoods.
We deserve a federal government that respects democratic federalism and local self-governance. That means cities governed by their elected officials according to their residents' values, federal agencies that support rather than undermine local authority, and state and local governments operating independent of federal overreach.
We deserve locally run elections. That means candidates freely nominated and elected by their community. Election officials, nominees, and elected officials have the autonomy to govern state affairs to best serve their communities.
We deserve constitutional governance that respects the separation between military and civilian authority. That means active-duty troops focused on national defense rather than domestic political purposes, state National Guard under governors' authority except in genuine emergencies, and civilian populations exercising constitutional rights free from military equipment and tactics.
And What We Got
We got Trump transferring jurisdiction of the Roosevelt Reservation from civilian to military authority in multiple states, creating "national defense areas" where military personnel can directly detain and search civilians, criminalizing border crossing as "trespassing on military property" and charging over 200 people with new federal crimes for crossing a 60-foot-wide strip.⁹ ¹¹ We got the systematic transformation of the border into a military zone where troops trained for combat now conduct law enforcement activities against civilian populations, violating the fundamental principle that the military should not police civilians.
We got 90 armed federal troops and 17 military Humvees deployed to arrest nobody at MacArthur Park, creating footage of federal military control over civilian spaces that now serves as a template for threatened operations in other cities.¹ We got the illegal federalization of over 4,700 troops in Los Angeles against the governor's objections, with federal courts questioning whether the deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act.⁵ ¹³
We got a president who threatens to "run" cities if their elections produce results he doesn't like, abandoning any pretense of respecting democratic federalism or local self-governance.³ We got federal officials pressuring local mayors into federal control programs before elections even occur, turning governance into a protection racket where compliance brings autonomy and resistance brings federal occupation.⁴
We got $170 billion in federal spending for detention infrastructure sufficient to hold 116,000 people - a 308% increase over current capacity designed not for border security but for mass detention of people already living in American communities that resist federal political control.² ¹⁵ We got immigration enforcement budgets that exceed the annual GDP of most countries, spent on creating a domestic surveillance and detention apparatus unprecedented in American history.
Watch for What's Next
This represents the systematic implementation of what scholars call "competitive authoritarianism" - maintaining the forms of democracy while using government power to ensure only one outcome remains possible.¹⁷ The four-part system creates a framework for comprehensive federal control over local democratic governance.
Watch for the expansion of militarized "national defense areas" beyond the border to justify military policing in civilian communities. The legal precedent has been established: declare an emergency, seize federal land, designate it a military zone, then authorize troops to detain and search civilians. This framework could be applied to federal property in any Democratic-majority city Trump wants to control, creating military zones within urban areas that bypass normal constitutional protections.
Watch for the expansion of the Los Angeles training model to other Democratic-controlled cities while Republican areas remain untouched. Federal forces now have months of experience in urban occupation tactics, legal workarounds for military deployment, crowd control techniques, and community intimidation strategies. Each Democratic city they target incorporates lessons learned in Los Angeles, making subsequent operations more efficient and legally defensible while the political targeting becomes more obvious.
The goal is not successful immigration enforcement - it's the creation of a federal apparatus capable of overriding democratic elections through sustained terror campaigns against civilian populations. The current operations are designed to establish both the legal precedents and operational infrastructure for comprehensive federal control over American life, with immigration enforcement serving as the constitutional cover for authoritarian conquest.
How We Resist: Lessons from History
Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century" provides essential guidance for this moment.¹⁸ Note that resistance is always guided by Lesson 20: Be as courageous as you can. We are not all positioned to take each of these actions, but consider what of these you can given your circumstances. Know that for every action of resistance you engage in, you are also representing those who are not able to stand up due to vulnerability, ability, or means.
Lesson 2: Defend institutions. Federal courts are already challenging the Los Angeles military deployment as violations of the Posse Comitatus Act.¹³ The institutional guardrails of American democracy still function, but only when citizens actively support them against authoritarian assault.
How to resist: Support organizations like the ACLU and Constitutional Accountability Center that are filing legal challenges to federal takeover threats. Contact your representatives demanding congressional oversight of federal interference in local elections and military deployments for political purposes. Donate to legal defense funds that challenge unconstitutional federal overreach. Attend city council meetings to ensure local officials understand their legal obligations to resist federal coercion.
Lesson 5: Remember professional ethics. The professionals who took oaths to serve the Constitution - federal judges, military officers, civil servants - are being pressured to violate those oaths to serve Trump's political agenda.
How to resist: Support professionals upholding constitutional obligations despite political pressure. Thank federal judges ruling against unconstitutional deployments. Contact military leaders expressing support for their Constitutional oath over political loyalty. Contact elected officials reminding them of their oath to the Constitution. Let them know this is what you expect.
Lesson 6: Be wary of paramilitaries. Masked federal operatives refusing identification while conducting military operations against civilians represent exactly the paramilitary threat that destroys democracy.
How to resist: Document and report paramilitary activity safely when you encounter it. Support journalism investigating these operations and their legal authority. Demand elected officials investigate the legal basis for masked federal operations in your community. Share factual information about constitutional violations with community networks. Never accept immigration threats or officer safety as justification for unidentified armed forces operating in civilian areas.
Lesson 9: Be kind to our language. The administration uses euphemisms and propaganda to hide the cruelty of mass detention operations. Refusing to use their language breaks their propaganda power.
How to resist: Refuse to use the term "Alligator Alcatraz" - this isn't funny, it is cruelty in your name. Call it a detention center, or more accurately a concentration camp. Use precise language that reveals rather than conceals what's happening. Don't let officials hide behind euphemisms like "staging operations" when they mean military intimidation, or "enhanced enforcement" when they mean mass detention. When you speak accurately about what's happening, you break the propaganda spell that makes cruelty seem acceptable.
Lesson 13: Practice corporeal politics. Power wants your body softening in your chair and your emotions dissipating on the screen. Federal threats are designed to make you withdraw from public life and democratic participation.
How to resist: This is Good Trouble week - show up in your community, be seen and be heard. Get outside and put your body in public spaces with other people. Attend your local Good Trouble rally in the spirit of John Lewis. Make new friends and participate with them in democratic activities. Your physical presence in public spaces demonstrates that federal intimidation has not succeeded in driving you from civic life. Bodies gathered together have power that cannot be replaced by online engagement.
We also have a special responsibility to protect the most vulnerable in our communities - undocumented immigrants, political candidates facing federal threats, and local officials under federal pressure. This means supporting sanctuary policies, contributing to legal defense funds, and maintaining the community connections that ensure democratic participation continues even under threat of federal retaliation. Check on your neighbors, and those who are alone. They need your care, attention, and presence.
Behind each analysis: reading primary sources to cut through the noise.
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Sources
ABC News. "US troops on the ground in LA immigration enforcement operation." ABC News, July 7, 2025. https://abcnews.go.com/us-troops-la-immigration-enforcement
National Public Radio. "Trump on Fourth of July signs 'One Big Beautiful Bill' to implement his agenda." NPR, July 4, 2025. https://www.npr.org/trump-one-big-beautiful-bill-july-4
Yahoo News. "Trump suggests running NYC if Mamdani elected." Yahoo News, July 8, 2025. https://news.yahoo.com/trump-suggests-running-nyc-mamdani-elected
Axios. "Trump says he's 'thinking about' taking over D.C." Axios, July 8, 2025. https://www.axios.com/trump-thinking-taking-over-dc
Al Jazeera. "Marines prepare for deployment in Los Angeles as protests spread across US." Al Jazeera, June 12, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/marines-prepare-deployment-los-angeles
The Guardian. "Trump threatens to denaturalize NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani." The Guardian, July 10, 2025. https://www.theguardian.com/trump-threatens-denaturalize-mamdani
CNN Politics. "Stephen Miller announces 3,000 daily arrest quota for immigration enforcement." CNN, June 15, 2025. https://www.cnn.com/politics/stephen-miller-3000-daily-arrest-quota
The Washington Post. "Homeland Security Secretary calls immigration critics 'terrorists' while defending troop deployment." The Washington Post, June 20, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/homeland-security-secretary-immigration-critics-terrorists
Brennan Center for Justice. "How Turning the Border into a Military Zone Evades Congress and Threatens Rights." Brennan Center for Justice, New York University School of Law, 2025. https://www.brennancenter.org/border-military-zone-threatens-rights
Al Jazeera. "Second US military zone along border with Mexico set up to deter migrants." Al Jazeera, May 3, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/second-military-zone-border-mexico
The Washington Post. "Trump military border charges sow confusion in federal courts." The Washington Post, May 19, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/trump-military-border-charges-federal-courts
NBC News. "Trump deploys National Guard in L.A. amid protests over immigration raids." NBC News, June 7, 2025. https://www.nbcnews.com/trump-deploys-national-guard-la-protests
Associated Press. "Judge asks if troops in Los Angeles are violating the Posse Comitatus Act." AP News, June 20, 2025. https://apnews.com/judge-asks-troops-los-angeles-posse-comitatus-act
Congressional Research Service. "District of Columbia Home Rule Act: Legal Framework and Federal Authority." Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2024. https://crsreports.congress.gov/dc-home-rule-act-legal-framework
National Immigration Forum. "One Big Beautiful Bill Act: Immigration Provisions Analysis." National Immigration Forum, July 7, 2025. https://immigrationforum.org/one-big-beautiful-bill-act-analysis
Federal Bureau of Prisons. "Statistics: Inmate Population." U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 2025. https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/population_statistics.jsp
Levitsky, Steven, and Lucan A. Way. Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes After the Cold War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Snyder, Timothy. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2017.