Vienna, Austria—The following opinion piece is authored by GySgt. George Bottorff, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.). He opines on the inhumane detention of immigrants and U.S. citizens, and reflects on the lack of oversight happening within the Trump Administration. George is a California UOCAVA voter, resident of Austria, and a Member of the Democrats Abroad Global Veterans and Military Families Caucus.
For anyone unfamiliar with Mark Milley, he is a retired four-star Army general and one of the most highly decorated officers in modern times, including serving as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff—the highest military rank in the United States. He is highly educated, understands the concerns of service members and military families, having himself been deployed, and has demonstrated leadership skills by commanding troops for four decades.
In his 2023 retirement speech, he stated, “We don’t take an oath to a king, or a queen, or to a tyrant or dictator, and we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.” It was only hours after Trump took office in January 2025 when Gen. Milley’s security clearance was revoked, his Pentagon portrait removed, and his security detail removed—clearly a political attack by freshly-inaugurated President Trump.
However, we must pay close attention to what comes out of this administration’s “Abby Normal” type of thinking. What we have seen, and are currently seeing, in the streets of America is homegrown chaos. This is the very definition of taxpayer dollars being wasted by ordering service members to the streets of America against our own citizenry, some of whom have actually disappeared. The administration has already begun setting up detention camps on some military bases. By doing this, one runs the risk of the soldiers being involved in the shooting death of men, women, and children.
For nearly 250 years, the United States has honored the system of constitutional checks and balances within the federal government. But what we have been seeing are pure abuses of the Constitution. A few months ago, the senior Senator from California was literally thrown to the floor for simply directing a question to the Secretary of Homeland Security. Also, earlier this year, U.S. Representatives were explicitly denied entry to an immigration detention center. The number of examples of blatant ignorance of constitutional checks and balances is unprecedented with this administration. This is significant because when there is no oversight of these detention camps, we can expect that at some point, the people will start to riot. Without proper oversight, we know there will be overcrowding and inadequate food, water, and hygiene facilities. Moreover, by illegally prohibiting oversight authority, it can be expected that detainees will have little to no access to essential medical services. There have already been reports of deaths of detainees.
As of right now, we have seen 171 U.S. citizens who are or have been in these detention centers that are starting to look more and more like concentration camps. It is unconscionable to think that Congressional Republicans—those in the majority—are completely content to remain silent, watching these atrocities from the sidelines when so many of our own citizens are being “rounded up” by masked men with no identification badges and often with no judicial warrant to detain them in the first place.
Let us all take in the wisdom of Gen. Milley. Those who think they can abuse our founding principles will always be met with fierce opposition from patriotic Americans, veterans, and even overseas citizens who all understand the rule of law and that no one individual is above the law. Democrats can and must win the midterm elections to halt the extremist Project 2025 agenda and see who is actually in these detention camps, what “crimes” they are being accused of, and finally start holding this administration accountable for its actions.
U.S. citizens living abroad, both civilian and military, are highly encouraged to check your voter registration status and request your ballot for any upcoming elections in your home voting state that you are eligible to vote in.
The Global VMF Caucus, proudly consisting of veterans, military family members, Department of Defense civilians, and strong allies of veterans and military family causes, has over 1,400 members in dozens of countries.
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