DOTHAN, Ala. (WDNews) — A top adviser to former President Donald Trump referenced Dothan on Monday as part of a broader argument about federal law enforcement and the National Guard’s presence in U.S. cities.
Speaking to reporters, Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff for policy, said federal officers would be treated differently in conservative-leaning areas than in cities where protests have taken place.
“When I hear comments from Democrat officials saying that this violence from the left is being ‘provoked’—their word—by the presence of federal officials, think about how broken of a sentence that is,” Miller said.
Miller used Dothan as an example of a city where he believed federal officers would not face hostility.
“If tomorrow we went to, say, Dothan, Alabama, and there was a federal building there, and we put 100 police officers in front of it, it wouldn’t be attacked,” Miller said. “Nobody would throw rocks at them. Nobody would try to shoot them. Nobody would do anything. They would say, ‘hello, good morning.’ Maybe they’d get them a cup of coffee … They’d ask, ‘how are your kids doing?’”
Miller contrasted that hypothetical with incidents in cities such as Portland, Oregon, where federal agents have clashed with protesters outside government buildings. He said the National Guard was being sent “reactively to defend ICE officers under siege,” not to provoke unrest.
A federal judge has since issued a temporary block on Trump’s order to federalize 200 Oregon National Guard troops for building protection. Oregon officials have called the administration’s characterization of the protests “ludicrous,” noting that recent demonstrations had been small and mostly peaceful, according to the Associated Press.
Trump has either deployed or threatened to deploy federal forces to several Democrat-led cities, including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., while describing them as “training grounds” for the military.
In Alabama, the idea of National Guard deployment has also surfaced following recent violent crime in Montgomery. U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, considered a frontrunner in the 2026 governor’s race, has said he would be open to such deployments, while Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has voiced opposition to the concept.
No plans have been announced to deploy federal troops to Dothan or elsewhere in the Wiregrass region.
