As anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots continue to smolder in California, similar pockets of protest have cropped up throughout the country.
From Trump Tower in New York City to Dallas, anti-ICE agitators are spreading across the country.
The Dallas anti-ICE protests, meanwhile, got some headline coverage, thanks to a woman in a military uniform who appeared to be defying President Donald Trump’s orders regarding cracking down on illegal immigration.
“We are not pawns for Donald Trump’s agenda,” the woman said in the now-viral clip.
After a quick cut, she explained: “Why now? It’s because the military was called upon [against] the protesters.”
She continued: “In our oath to serve, we serve the People of the United States, the Constitution. These constitutional rights are being stripped and just denied. And the military will not be pawns to that.
“So I’m calling on the conscience of military members who served previously and now. We have a conscience, we have a mind, and we have a duty and moral obligation to say ‘no,’ and resist evil …”
Critics of Trump obviously latched onto this clip, as it appeared that an active member of the military (she was certainly speaking on behalf of them with her verbiage) was defying the president due to her “conscience.” Even most coverage of the viral clip describes her as a “military member.”
Conversely, supporters of the current administration were incensed with this seemingly traitorous defiance.
But is this actually the rebellious gesture that supporters of the anti-ICE riots are making it seem like it is?
Trump’s Department of Defense clearly doesn’t think so, and felt strongly enough about it to go on X and set the record straight — twice.
Sharing the aforementioned clip, the DOD rapid response team on X clarified this woman’s military background:
The woman in this video was discharged from the Texas National Guard on June 5th, 2020.
She does not speak for nor reflect the U.S. Army. pic.twitter.com/pX9ASE20kw
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 11, 2025
“The woman in this video was discharged from the Texas National Guard on June 5th, 2020,” the X post said.
It bluntly added: “She does not speak for nor reflect the U.S. Army.”
The DOD did clarify the first part of that dispute — though not the latter — in a follow-up response to itself:
Correction: This individual served in the U.S. Army from November 2010 to August 2014 and was then in the Army Reserves from August 2014 to June 2020.
— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 11, 2025
“Correction: This individual served in the U.S. Army from November 2010 to August 2014 and was then in the Army Reserves from August 2014 to June 2020,” the DOD posted.
Regardless, it appears to have been roughly five years since this unnamed woman had served, and the DOD wanted to set that straight.
And since the DOD offered no such clarification on whether or not she spoke or reflected the U.S. Army, it appears that — regardless of this woman’s service — she’s not considered an official representative of the military.
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