Local veterans are speaking out against the deployment of 200 Marines to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida. Over 200 veterans have signed an open letter opposing the use of the military in this capacity.
www.clickorlando.com
Fla. – Local veterans are speaking out against the deployment of 200 Marines to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Florida. Over 200 veterans have signed an open letter opposing the use of the military in this capacity.
Earlier this month,
U.S. Northern Command announced the deployment of 200 Marines to Florida to support ICE in its interior immigration enforcement mission. This follows the deployment of thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of active-duty Marines to Los Angeles amid recent immigration crackdowns.
The decision to use active military forces in domestic immigration operations has sparked concern among some local veterans who see this as a dangerous misuse of the military on U.S. soil.
Alexander McCoy, a Marine Corps veteran who served six years as an embassy guard in the Middle East, Latin America, and Europe, expressed his unease about the deployment.
“The U.S. military is for fighting America’s enemies and if we’re using them here in the United States, the implication is that Americans are enemies,” McCoy said.
In response, McCoy drafted an open letter denouncing the use of Marines in ICE operations, stating, “We swore an oath to the Constitution, and the law makes clear what the U.S. military is for and not for. Using Marines to participate in ICE operations on U.S. soil dishonors that oath.”
He invited other veterans to sign
the letter in solidarity.
Since issuing the letter, over 200 veterans have added their names in support. Among them is Doug Jackson, a fellow Marine and infantryman who deployed to Iraq in 2007.
“Marines train for war or they’re going to war, so this is not a mission that Marines want or are trained for,” Jackson said.
He emphasized that opposition is not limited to “hysterical, far-left people on the news,” but represents a genuine concern among service members.
McCoy says it is his responsibility as a veteran to speak up on behalf of active-duty troops who are restricted from expressing political views.
“It’s our job to be their voice and to express what we would have felt when we were serving if we got put in this terrible situation,” he said.
He further highlighted the stark differences between ICE officers and military personnel, saying, “If an ICE officer decides they no longer want to be part of this, they can quit their job. A service member in the military, if they get deployed to something like this, well, you got no choice and that’s really, really dangerous.”
The open letter is available at
FlVetsLetter.com.
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