Janessa Goldbeck is a former U.S. Marine Corps Officer. She has moved from a primarily military engineering focus to become one of the foremost advocates for stopping aggressive immigration enforcement. Commissioned as a Marine Corps officer in 2012, Goldbeck gave seven years of her life in service. In her secondary role as a combat engineer officer, she proficiently constructed buildings and planned demolition operations. She fought to make the experience of female and LGBTQ service members better while serving in uniform herself. Her commitment has inspired her present-day activism.
Goldbeck’s reasons for leaving the Marine Corps in 2019 were both personal and political. Her mother’s grave health problems were ever on her mind. Moreover, the election of Donald Trump played a role in her decision to depart from the military. At the same time, Goldbeck is concerned that a populist Trump presidency might threaten the military’s apolitical character. She believes that this principle is fundamental to our national character.
In her time in the military, Goldbeck worked to shatter glass ceilings for women. She volunteered for the grueling, elite infantry officer training, an opportunity once denied to female Marines. Her advocacy led to the repeal of policies barring women from serving in infantry units. This was a huge step towards advancing gender equality in the armed forces.
Now, Goldbeck applies her military experience to support local leaders who fear the potential deployment of troops for immigration enforcement. National Guard involvement is part of her organization’s ongoing work to limit the use of the military for domestic policing. In addition, she shares expert testimony—often along with retired generals—to ensure that staff understand what these actions mean.
Goldbeck trains activist crews to identify and detect every kind of military uniform. During these sessions, participants especially express their fear about uniforms associated with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the National Guard. She has long sounded the alarm over the potential that these forces might be deployed during the next electoral cycle.
“My fear is that this is all a lead-up to potential use of the guard or the military around the next election cycle. I’m not just dreaming about that. It’s because it’s been spoken about by very senior members of this administration and the president himself. That is incredibly alarming. It is not American to conduct elections with troops in the streets and to intimidate voters. It’s very authoritarian.” – Janessa Goldbeck
Goldbeck’s concerns go beyond the theoretical, though she feels that the militarization of domestic spaces has tangible and dangerous consequences. After the attacks on National Guard troops, she warned. She asked whether the president was endangering military lives by exposing them to hasty, ill-prepared missions.
“After the horrific killing of the guardswoman in DC, there’s the question of: is the president putting these folks in danger unnecessarily? The answer to that, I believe, is absolutely yes, especially when they’re not necessarily trained for the mission they’re being asked to execute.” – Janessa Goldbeck
Her advocacy highlights the psychological toll on service members who find themselves engaged in activities far removed from their intended purpose. Across the board, guardsmen report a range of emotions from boredom to frustration and even rage at having to fill these roles at home.
“There’s a wide range of feelings for the folks I’ve spoken to, ranging from boredom – this is a waste of time – to anger because they’ve been taken away from their families and their jobs.” – Janessa Goldbeck
Goldbeck stresses that guardsmen did not sign up to become agents of immigration enforcement or to police their communities. This perspective strikes a strong chord in military culture, where service members are conditioned to deploy overseas for defined missions and not fight domestic policing battles on home turf.
“They did not sign up to be ICE – immigration enforcement – and they did not sign up to police their friends and neighbours or to be deployed into ‘hostile territory’ where the governors, local police have said actually, we do not want you here.” – Janessa Goldbeck
Goldbeck is a veteran of several combat deployments. What she finds incredibly distressing is to see this moment of political discourse surrounding military engagement in domestic affairs. The contrast between her experiences and what’s happening today makes her activism all the more personal.
“To see this fight that has already been litigated, has already put to bed… is so incredibly infuriating.” – Janessa Goldbeck
Goldbeck’s activism is part of a larger emerging movement within the military community demanding accountability and respect for service members. She’s concerned that President Trump’s tone and approach reflect a deep misreading of military values.
“That’s humiliating to our service members. It just goes to show how deep this president’s disdain is for people who serve in uniform and how little he understands about the actual ethos of the military and what it’s there to do.” – Janessa Goldbeck
She views the recent debate inside the administration over possible military deployments as a dangerous precedent. At a deeper level, it signals an emerging authoritarianism in the face of alternative governance. The ramifications of this development for this movement, and for the future of democracy more generally, are deeply troubling.
“I hope that people have learned that this administration, this president, mean what they say, even if it sounds absurd or anti-American or anti-democratic. They mean it. I absolutely think that this president wants to remain in power much longer, for as long as he can.” – Janessa Goldbeck
Goldbeck’s decades of experience as a combat engineer officer gives her a unique vantage point on the effects of militarization on communities of color and low-income communities. Now pursuing medical education against the backdrop of harsh political realities, her dedication to advocacy for other service members remains strong.