What’s Breaking Through About National Guard Deployments

President Trump has deployed the National Guard in several American cities and has vowed to send troops and other federal agents into more.

While the governor is normally the commander of their state’s National Guard, the president has deployed troops into states without the consent of the governor in several instances. The National Guard’s recent missions have ranged from reducing crime to supporting federal immigration enforcement to quelling potential protest activity.

Deploying troops domestically to further the president’s political aims is a stark departure from how the American military and federal law enforcement have been traditionally used.

First, it happened in Los Angeles, when he deployed the California National Guard and Marines in June, taking command of the state National Guard from the governor. He has since attempted to deploy National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., Illinois, and Oregon.

These federal interventions immediately caused confusion, as the correct chain of command with local and federal law enforcement was unclear. Residents also raised concerns about a growing military presence, as the troops engage in activities local law enforcement typically handles.

In light of Trump’s actions, states have sent their National Guard troops elsewhere without an invitation from local leaders—which is far from the norm. Some states have declined this request.

The president has said the deployments will continue, threatening to deploy the military to several more cities throughout the country in the coming months.

At the same time, the administration has also cut $158 million for community-led programs that have been proven to reduce crime, slashing more than half of all federal funding. Those programs were funded through bipartisan legislation passed by Congress.

These deployments are facing several legal challenges.

Here are the messages that we found are resonating with Americans based on States United research:

• Deploying the military in our communities, and using federal agents as police, is not needed.
  • National Guard members should not be patrolling our streets.
  • They don’t know these communities. They aren’t trained for this. They have different weapons, different training, and different rules about things like use of force.
  • State and local law enforcement know our communities best—not the president, far away in D.C. Public safety is all about community.
• The National Guard is being taken away from their homes and important work.
  • National Guard members are citizen soldiers—they signed up to serve their communities in their greatest time of need. But now, when their mission is undefined and has no clear strategy, they are being taken away from their families and jobs to serve as political pawns for the president. It’s a waste of their time.
  • Members of the military and federal agents are being pulled away from the critical work they are trained for—work we rely on to respond to disasters or pursue heinous crimes like drug and human trafficking. It’s pulling resources away from where they are needed most.
• It’s clear the president is going to try to send troops into more places.
  • He didn’t stop with LA or DC. And he’s not going to stop with Portland or Chicago. He wants to normalize putting armed military on our streets. This is not normal. This is un-American and does not solve any problems.
• Deploying troops isn’t actually about safety. It’s a distraction.
  • These deployments are not a serious crime prevention effort. What we’re seeing is troops taken from their jobs and families to pick up trash and do landscaping projects. This is a waste of their valuable time. This is not the kind of service they signed up for.
  • This is an attempt to grab power and change the subject from a string of personally damaging news. While prices increase and people lose their health care coverage, the president is manufacturing a crisis.
  • The president is ignoring the realities of local law enforcement’s work to maintain public safety, and the actual facts about how crime rates are falling in cities nationwide. State and local law enforcement have worked hard to accomplish this.
  • If the president cared about fighting crime, he would not be cutting millions from local law enforcement budgets. Local law enforcement leaders want investments in proven crime-reduction strategies like public safety hiring and training and efforts to build community trust. These deployments are none of those things.
• This is clearly about politics.
  • When the U.S. Capitol was under siege by an unruly mob who assaulted police officers on January 6, 2021, the president refused to send in the National Guard. He stood by and watched the violence unfold because it was done by his supporters.
  • But now he’s using the military when there is no crime emergency to solve. It’s clear that the president doesn’t care about public safety; he only cares about his own political gain.
  • The president is testing the limits of his power, sending the military into the states for his own political agenda.
  • The president is sending armed troops into our cities based on bad information. He’s watching old cable news clips and cherry-picked social media that looks nothing like what’s happening on the ground. The president needs to listen to local leaders and those who actually live in those communities.
• Americans disapprove of deploying the National Guard without the governor’s consent.
  • Governors are the commanders-in-chief of their state National Guard. Governors are elected to set safety priorities along with local leaders. Governors direct the National Guard, not the president.
  • Less than a quarter of Americans think that Trump should be able to deploy the National Guard in a state without the consent of that state’s governor, according to States United polling.
  • Less than half of Republicans think the president should use the National Guard in this way.
  • When state leaders need federal assistance, they ask. It should not be forced on them.
  • Here’s the deal: nobody wants this. The people in these states don’t want it; local leaders don’t want it. They are working together with local law enforcement, not asking the military to patrol our own people.