1. United States
2. Kan.
3. Letter

I am writing to you today with a heavy heart, shaking and deeply afraid — not just for myself, but for the soul of this nation we love. I am horrified to learn that the Pentagon has placed approximately 1,500 active-duty U.S. Army soldiers based in Alaska on prepare-to-deploy orders for possible deployment to Minnesota amid protests sparked by federal immigration enforcement actions. These are not hypothetical reports — officials have confirmed this alarming step. The idea that American soldiers could be sent to confront American citizens on American soil, not because of a foreign threat, not because of an invasion, but because of civil unrest over law enforcement tactics, is devastating to me. The very thought feels like a stain on our Constitution and a betrayal of the democratic values our country claims to uphold. I read that the administration is even threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, a law from 1807 that allows the President to bypass traditional limits on military involvement in domestic affairs. This would be an extraordinary expansion of executive power, a move so unprecedented in modern times that it should give every American citizen pause, no matter their party's politics. Sending U.S. troops to Minnesota in this context would not protect democracy, it would undermine it. It would send a chilling message that dissent, frustration with federal enforcement practices, or peaceful protest can and will be met with military force. I am appalled that we are even contemplating militarized federal intervention against people exercising their rights and expressing concern over how our government enforces its immigration laws. Let me be clear: I do not support violence. I do not endorse lawlessness. But I do not believe that the answer is to deploy soldiers trained for combat into the streets of a U.S. city. That is a threshold we should not cross. That is a moment when our democracy would be irrevocably changed. We are not a country that sends its own army to subdue civilians, that is exactly the image of authoritarianism that generations of Americans fought to repudiate. I urge you, with tears, with outrage, and with a profound sense of despair, to stand firmly against any deployment of active-duty military forces on U.S. soil for domestic law enforcement. Reject the invocation of the Insurrection Act. Defend the constitutional rights of Minnesotans and all Americans. Preserve our democratic traditions by insisting on de-escalation, transparency, accountability, and civilian-led solutions to civil unrest. Please do everything in your power to ensure that no American soldier is ever ordered to confront American citizens here at home. Our democracy depends on restraint, respect for rights, and the separation of military and civilian authority.