ALLEGAN COUNTY, Mich – Last week, the Allegan County, Michigan. Board of Commissioners passed a resolution opposing federal kidnapping powers
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THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Allegan County Board of Commissioners condemns in no uncertain terms Sections 1021 and 1022 of the 2012 NDAA as they purport to:
1) Repeal Posse Comitatus and authorize the President of the United States to utilize the Armed Forces of the United States to police the United States of America,
2) Indefinitely detain persons captured within the United States of America without charge until the end of hostilities as purportedly authorized by the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force,
3) Subject persons captured within the United States of America to military tribunals, and
4) Transfer persons captured within the United States of America to a foreign country or foreign entity
The resolution overwhelmingly passed 8-3.
The resolution also requests that “all agencies of Allegan County up to and including Allegan County Sheriff Department and all police departments in the jurisdiction of Allegan County to decline requests by federal agencies acting under detention powers of Sections 1021 and 1022 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 that could infringe upon residents’ freedom of speech, religion, assembly, privacy, rights to counsel, or other rights not here explicitly enumerated as well as their safety from harm committed by politically powerful domestic enemies of the Constitution.”
Original language would have required agencies to decline requests for federal assistance, but during debate, the sheriff pointed out that the commission lacks the legal authority to bind the sheriff’s office.
Sources close to the Tenth Amendment Center report several other counties in Michigan are considering similar resolutions.
At the Republican National Convention this week, a proposed party platform plank opposing indefinite detention provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act failed.
“It doesn’t matter if the enemy combatant is a U.S. citizen or not,” Jim Bopp, co-chairman of the platform subcommittee on constitutional government said. “If they are fighting for a foreign country or foreign interest, they can be so held.”
The idea of due process and civil liberty protections enshrined in the Bill of Rights apparently don’t matter to this Republican constitutional ” scholar” either.
Despite the occasional skirmishes on Capitol Hill, it seems pretty clear federal politicians have no intention of reining in overreaching federal power, even when it comes to protecting the most basic civil liberties. After all, national security demands federal kidnapping authority.
But, as shown in Allegan County, resistance to indefinite detention without due process provisions in the NDAA continues unabated at the state and local level.
To track state and local liberty preservation acts across the U.S., click HERE.
