National Guard troops stun with rare vow to defy Trump's orders: 'Stand up to the Gestapo'
President Donald Trump might be the commander in chief, but two National Guard soldiers vowed to refuse to follow his orders if they conflict with the law and the Constitution.
Two Illinois National Guard members told CBS News that they want no part of deploying to Chicago to help deport immigrants.
The report called it "a rare act of open defiance from within the military ranks."
"It's disheartening to be forced to go against your community members and your neighbors," Staff Sgt. Demi Palecek told CBS News. She is a Latina guardswoman running for the Illinois state legislature.
"It feels illegal. This is not what we signed up to do," she said.
She joins Capt. Dylan Blaha, another Guard member, in saying their fellow soldiers felt uneasy after Trump federalized 500 troops for Chicago. He's running for Congress in District 13.
"I signed up to defend the American people and protect the Constitution," Blaha said. "When we have somebody in power who's actively dismantling our rights — free speech, due process, freedom of the press — it's really hard to be a soldier right now."
In the Trump era, there's a chance that Blaha and Palecek could be "court-martialed, imprisoned or get a felony-level discharge, depending on who issued the order and whether the soldier is under state or federal control," the report said.
If her superior gives her a direct order to deploy, she said she'd "absolutely" defy it.
"I would definitely say no," she said. "I'm not going to go against my community members, my family and my culture. I believe this is the time to be on the right side of history."
Blaha agreed.
"Look at 1930s, 1940s Germany," Blaha said. "There is a point where if you didn't stand up to the Gestapo, are you just actively one of them now?"
The deployment is currently paused until there is a final ruling over the matter or until the U.S. Supreme Court steps in.