Swansenreport

Hong Would Deploy National Guard to Arrest ICE Agents in Wisconsin

Less than a week after CNN exposed her long-held position that police should be abolished, Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Francesca Hong has a new controversy: a resurfaced podcast clip in which she says she would deploy the Wisconsin National Guard to arrest ICE agents enforcing federal immigration law.

The comment came during an October 31, 2025 appearance on a left-wing podcast called Resistance Radio. “I don’t want us to continue to rely on law enforcement,” Hong said, “but if the National Guard has to be out here arresting ICE agents, you have to meet state-sanctioned violence with, you know, parts of the state sometimes.” The clip was first published Wednesday by the Heartland Post. Daily Voice

The statement sets up a direct constitutional confrontation that legal experts say a governor cannot win. The Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution makes federal law supreme over state law, and a governor deploying the National Guard to physically obstruct or arrest federal law enforcement agents would trigger an immediate federal court injunction — and potentially expose those National Guard members to federal charges for interfering with federal officers. No governor has successfully used state military forces to block federal enforcement since the Civil Rights era, when the federal government deployed its own troops to override state opposition.

The revelation compounds an already difficult week for Hong’s campaign. The CNN KFile investigation published Friday found she had called to abolish police in 2020 and 2021 posts she has neither deleted nor renounced. When asked directly whether she still supports abolishing police, she did not say no. Even within Wisconsin’s Democratic primary, some left-leaning voters have begun pulling back — one wrote publicly that they “cannot in any good faith back her for governor” after reviewing her unretracted positions. AOL

Hong is currently polling at 14 percent in the Democratic primary, with former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes at 11 percent and 65 percent of Democratic primary voters still undecided. The August 11 primary is 75 days away. Daily Voice

Republicans were quick to pile on. The Heartland Post noted: “Understand this, Wisconsin voters — Francesca Hong will make Wisconsin a haven for illegal aliens and criminals. She will abolish police, decriminalize everything, and turn Wisconsin into East Minnesota.”

Whatever happens in the primary, the two revelations in five days have given Republicans a significant amount of general election material — assuming Hong survives August 11.

Sources: Heartland Post — Exclusive | WCBM — National Guard story | CNN KFile — Abolish Police | Townhall — Primary reaction