Durbin, Duckworth Announce NDAA Amendments To Prevent President Trump From Unlawfully Deploying The Military Into American Cities

Durbin, Duckworth Announce NDAA Amendments To Prevent President Trump From Unlawfully Deploying The Military Into American Cities

Durbin and Duckworth introduced the amendments in reaction to President Trump's repeated attempts to deploy the National Guard in Illinois during the height of "Operation Midway Blitz" last fall

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a combat Veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, today announced five amendments to the Senate National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2027 to push back against the Trump Administration's expansive use of the military for law enforcement or immigration enforcement support in American cities, including at times without the explicit consent or request of a state's elected officials. These amendments would enhance congressional oversight of and clarify existing statutory restrictions on such domestic military deployments and support for law enforcement.

Durbin and Duckworth filed these amendments in the wake of so-called "Operation Midway Blitz," which was used last fall as a mechanism by the President to sow fear in Illinois communities as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) have been tasked with carrying out the Trump Administration's cruel mass deportation scheme.

"Deploying the military into U.S. cities, especially without the request or consent of elected leaders, is a clear violation of the law by any president. This President's shameless attempts to use our nation's military as law enforcement against U.S. citizens, including Illinoisans during 'Operation Midway Blitz,' was a blatant abuse of his power as Commander in Chief-a sentiment that even the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with," Durbin said. "Senator Duckworth and I are filing amendments to the NDAA to ensure that no president-especially President Trump-has the power to weaponize our military against American citizens."

"Congress cannot allow Donald Trump-or any President-to politicize our Armed Forces for their own gain and turn our servicemembers against their fellow Americans," said Duckworth. "Forcing the military, uninvited, into our cities to intimidate Americans in their own communities does not make our nation stronger, it simply distracts the military from executing its core mission: keeping our nation safe from real adversaries who wish us harm. Trump's actions against Chicago, especially during 'Operation Midway Blitz,' were unwarranted, unwanted and unjust moves straight out of the authoritarian's playbook. Our amendments would ensure the next defense bill puts an end to this egregious abuse of our military while protecting civil rights and preserving public trust in our Armed Forces."

The amendments that Durbin and Duckworth filed include:

1. Amendment #6332 to prohibit the use of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) funds for any activities that would violate the Posse Comitatus Act or that would infringe on powers reserved to the States under the Constitution.
2. Amendment #6333 to ensure applicability of the Posse Comitatus Act on the National Guard. This amendment would close an unintended loophole President Trump has abused to deploy National Guard troops across state lines for law enforcement support and absent invocation of emergency authorities under the Insurrection Act.
3. Amendment #6136 to prohibit the use of any military construction funds to construct, renovate or expand any facility for the purposes of detaining migrants.
4. Amendment #6137 to require the President to notify Congress and justify in writing before providing access to military equipment-including surveillance equipment-bases or facilities to support law enforcement and require congressional approval to extend any such support longer than 30 days. This would effectively make it harder for President Trump to use military bases for detention, provide military surveillance equipment to support police or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and claim it is legal to deploy the military to American cities because they are only providing logistical support to law enforcement.
5. Amendment #6138 to delay funding for misused domestic deployments in FY27-while still allowing funding for reasonable domestic deployments, such as those consented to by destination elected officials, responses to local emergencies and southern border operations-until DOD reports to Congress the impact of such deployments on military readiness.

In response to the Trump Administration's surge in federal law enforcement in Chicago and continuous threats to deploy the military in the area, Durbin and Duckworth have taken a number of steps to push back on these unlawful actions carried out by DHS under the direction of President Trump. Durbin and Duckworth's actions to push back on the Trump Administration's so-called "Operation Midway Blitz" can be found here and here.

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