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Reason
Reason
Politics
C.J. Ciaramella

Using the National Guard in DEA Raids Is the Worst Kind of Drug War Mission Creep

National Guard DEA Guard United States Donald Trump Elizabeth Goitein Trump Administration

The Trump administration deployed National Guard soldiers to assist the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other federal law enforcement agencies during a large-scale marijuana raid last week in a stunning example of drug war mission creep.

The Los Angeles Times reported that about 315 National Guard troops assisted the DEA during a June 18 raid on suspected illegal marijuana farms in Thermal, an unincorporated desert community on the southeast edge of Riverside County. The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service posted photographs showing soldiers carrying riot shields next to Humvees.

The raid, completely divorced by geography and purpose from the Trump administration's original justifications for deploying troops to Los Angeles, is a compelling argument for why the president's sweeping emergency powers should be restricted.

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