What We’re Saying About National Guard Deployments
In August, President Trump deployed the National Guard to Washington, D.C., sent federal agents to patrol its streets, and attempted to take over the local police department. The federal intervention in the nation’s capital immediately caused confusion, as local law enforcement struggled to see a clear chain of command and residents feared a growing military presence.
This is just the latest example of the president deploying troops to further his political aims, a departure from how the American military and federal law enforcement have been traditionally used.
Since the president declared a “crime emergency” in D.C., the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia announced that they will send their state’s National Guard members to D.C. in response to a request from the Trump administration. Nearly 2,000 National Guard members will patrol the nation’s capital.
Vice President JD Vance suggested the federal takeover of local law enforcement in D.C. could set the stage for more deployments in other cities throughout the country.
This is the second time the president has deployed troops to a jurisdiction that did not request federal law enforcement intervention. In early June, Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles, taking command from the governor.
Here is what’s breaking through about recent National Guard’s deployments:
- Deploying the military in our communities, and using federal agents as police, is not needed here. National Guard members should not be patrolling our streets.
- These are military officers and FBI agents patrolling the 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.
- 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.
- When state leaders need federal assistance, they ask. It should not be forced on them.
- Sending the National Guard and federal law enforcement agents to our nation’s capital is just the beginning.
- Don’t be mistaken: The president is not going to stop with D.C. He will come for other communities throughout the country next.
- Deploying troops isn’t actually about safety. It’s a distraction.
- 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 in the capital.
- 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.
- 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.
- Americans disapprove of deploying the National Guard without the governor’s consent.
- 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.