* Background is here if you need it. ABC News…
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday confirmed he would declare a national emergency to carry out his campaign promise of mass deportations of migrants living in the U.S. without legal permission.
Overnight, Trump responded to a social media post from Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, who said earlier this month there are reports the incoming administration is preparing such a declaration and to use “military assets” to deport the migrants.
“TRUE!!!” Trump wrote.
Trump pledged to get started on mass deportations as soon as he enters office.
“On Day 1, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history to get the criminals out,” he said during a rally at Madison Square Garden in the closing days of the presidential race. “I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals in jail, then kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.”
* During an unrelated news conference today, the governor was asked about Donald Trump’s plan to declare a national emergency to carry out mass deportations of migrants in the US…
Q: You may have heard this morning, President-elect Trump confirming on Truth Social that he’s likely to declare a state of emergency for deportation and use the military to do that. What would that mean here in Illinois? Could he use the Insurrection Act to call out the National Guard and how would you respond to that?
Pritzker: We, of course are deeply concerned about the President of the United States calling out military inside the United States, where people are peaceful, even if there may be people who are undocumented. But the idea of calling out the Army into the domestic confines of the United States seems uncalled for, and may, in fact, be unconstitutional and illegal. We’ll look into that. Honestly, he says a lot of things. You never know what he’s telling the truth about, so we’ll have to see.
Q: He had talked back in the George Floyd riots, having governors call up the National Guard to help quell the violence. Senior advisors apparently talked him out of that. What is your hope as he talks about this about what may not actually happen?
Pritzker: Well he does not have the ability to call out the National Guard inside the confines of the United States, the governors do. There are two different provisions of the Act that authorizes the use of the National Guard, Title 10, Title 32 and he doesn’t have under either one of those the ability to call the National Guard out again in the United States of America. He can, however, call out the National Guard to fight in foreign wars. And he indeed, has done that. We’ve sent many, many thousands of National Guard over just my term in office to serve abroad, and that’s at the behest of the President of the United States, whether it was Joe Biden, or before him, Donald Trump.
* Meanwhile, from the New York Times…
Some of the first maneuvering by top Democrats began this past week, when Mr. Pritzker and Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado announced the formation of a group called Governors Safeguarding Democracy. Its unveiling followed several days of behind-the-scenes drama, as several fellow Democratic governors declined to join the group, at least for now.
A draft news release listed six other governors as members of the coalition led by Mr. Pritzker and Mr. Polis. But four of them – Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico and Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania – declined to join, according to people briefed on the discussions.
Govs. Tony Evers of Wisconsin and Josh Green of Hawaii were also named on the draft news release, but neither has yet agreed to join the group.
Alex Gough, a spokesman for Mr. Pritzker, said that the group had been working with 20 governors’ offices but that “not all of these governors wish to be named publicly at this time for understandable reasons, including the potential threats states are facing.”
