Expert: Trump wants to do a big deal of immigration question ”

Deport immigrants who reside illegally in the country is one of Trump’s major election promises. The fact that authorities seek out people and make raids in workplaces has led to protests.

– There have not been huge protests so far, some car has burned. Then the president makes the assessment that it is a serious national emergency, and through that he can federalize the National Guard, says Dag Blanck, professor of North American Studies at Uppsala University.

The National Guard is a military force which is to maintain the order and which is found in all states. They normally obey the state governor, but the president can take over both with and without the governor’s approval if the state cannot handle the situation.

In this case, both California’s governor and Los Angeles mayor has said that it is not needed and that Trump only fires on the contradictions. Human rights organizations have also condemned the action and believe that Trump « makes a spectacle » and militiating migration policy.

Trump has also opened to put In the army, and Defense Minister Pete Hegseth say on X that « the naval soldiers are ready ».

This would be very controversial, says Dag Blanck.

– There is basically a ban on using the federal army against its own population. Then it should have gone extremely far. Trump tried to do it at the end of his first term, but then the army opposed.

Trump has tried to strengthen the presidential power in several different contexts by claiming that it is a national emergency, for example in the case of commercial tariffs.

According to Dag Blanck he has no thoughtful Ideology, but the immigration issue is an exception. Here is a long tradition of resistance, and can be seen as part of American xenophobia, he says.

– This is a way for Trump to highlight that the fight against illegal immigration is superior and very important. Then it becomes protests, and then he puts hard against hard, a way to exaggerate the problem. He wants to play on this question and make it very big, says Dag Blanck.

It is also because it is an election -winning issue in which Trump has support. There is a concern in the United States for the inflow of migrants across the Mexico border, which is difficult to control.

– But California is very dependent on this cheap labor force. If Mexico workers were to disappear, it would cause major problems.

Despite the fact that the National Guard called In consists of soldiers living in California and who normally obey the governor, it is not likely that they would refuse to obey the president when he takes over the command.

– Then federalism is really put at its forefront. But it would also be the refusal of order, which goes against the military command order.