Since 1986, the State of Michigan has developed a policy of financial receivership for fiscally distressed local governments. This system entailed local democratic suspension, as the State government installed an Emergency Manager with complete power over the locality. Occupation primarily affected majority-black cities, was imposed without any real recourse, and lasted as long as State officials desired. A framework of indefinite temporary occupation in international politics highlights the structural ways in which Michigan’s subnational policy is juridically enabled, a symptom of structural financial and racial disinvestment, for the benefits of privileged elites, and contingent on national apathy. Additionally, the application of this lens delineates the systemic ways in which Emergency Management undermines local democracy even after the headlines proclaim its end.