A disappointing whitewash from the @DoD_IG as their report on Trump's abuse of active duty military personnel at the southern border came out today. A few thoughts on context and what comes next. <thread>
For starters, you can read the full report here: dodig.mil/reports.html/A… 2/
This report came in response to tens of thousands of activists and 34 Members of Congress demanding the DoD IG look into possible violations of posse comitatus when Trump deployed active duty troops to the border. winwithoutwar.org/progressives-u… 3/
It was an impressive show of inside/outside efforts by progressives to demand the IG investigate a blatant political stunt. As @RepRaulGrijalva said at the time, "the military and border communities should not be pawns in Trump’s political games." 4/ winwithoutwar.org/icymi-earlier-…
Unfortunately, rather than a serious investigation, it appears we got a whitewash. Perhaps this is a good time to remember that Trump abruptly fired the DoD IG earlier this year as part of his effort to exert control over Inspectors General. 5/ politico.com/news/2020/05/2…
Ultimately the IG report's most serious flaw seems to be that it points to a DoD policy directive as giving the legal authority to otherwise violate the legal prohibition on using the military for domestic law enforcement. But there's a problem there. 6/
Posse comitatus' prohibition can only be overcome with statutory exceptions, not regulatory ones. DoD can't by itself decide that it's going to otherwise violate the law, but that appears to be what happened here. 7/
While the IG points to provisions of the FY16 NDAA as congressionally granted authority, this deployment would seem to be far beyond what Congress authorized there and one can only reach their conclusion by combining the DoD's guidance with that authority, which you can't do. 8/
Ultimately, what this whitewash of a report reminds us is that any Executive, and this President in particular, will push every tiny grant of authority to extremes, far beyond what Congress ever envisioned. Trump has time and time again abused these authorities in new ways. 9/
It's long past time to fix these authorities, as @LizaGoitein and others have written: brennancenter.org/our-work/analy… 10/
But even as we get deep into the weeds of the legal issues at play, we can't forget the real people involved here and the pain and horror inflicted on them as a policy choice by Donald Trump. 11/
As Sanaa Abrar of @UNITEDWEDREAM reminds us, "The Trump administration continues to terrorize immigrants and refugees at the border with an increased militarized presence, greeting asylum seekers with tear gas and guns." winwithoutwar.org/progressives-u… 12/
No whitewashed report will erase the pain, trauma, and damage being done at our southern border, and the 100k+ activists and progressive champions in Congress who have been fighting this injustice every day won't stop now. Onward. #NoJusticeNoPeace
