1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

I am alarmed by President Trump’s recent directive to establish a “Military Mission” on the southern border, which would allow active-duty U.S. soldiers to detain migrants under the legal cover of a newly created military buffer zone. This reinterpretation of border enforcement—placing migrants on U.S. military bases to enable detention by soldiers—raises serious constitutional and legal concerns. Using the military for civilian law enforcement has long been seen as a red line in a democratic society. The memo’s instruction to prepare for potential use of the Insurrection Act to carry out mass deportations only deepens these concerns. This move risks eroding the foundational principle of civilian governance over the military and threatens the legal protections due to migrants and citizens alike. The Supreme Court’s recent involvement in the case of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a legal resident wrongly rendered to El Salvador, highlights the real dangers of unchecked executive action. If the administration can ignore court orders, fail to account for deportees’ whereabouts, and suggest it is helpless to reverse errors it created—what’s to stop the same from happening to American citizens? I ask you to stand firm against efforts to militarize our immigration system and to defend constitutional boundaries that protect us all.