By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The showdown over the National Guard in the nation’s capital is now heading to court. Supporters say it’s cutting crime. Critics say it’s breaking the law.
The president’s surplus of federal law enforcement into Washington is working, according to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D).
“We have had fewer gun crimes, fewer homicides,” Bowser said during a press conference on Aug. 27.
However, according to Bowser, the same can’t be said for the surge of National Guard troops from across the U.S., who have been deployed in the district for nearly a month.
“National Guards from other states, has not been an efficient use of those resources,” she added.
On Thursday, the district filed a lawsuit accusing President Trump of violating the Constitution and federal law by deploying troops without local consent. Nearly 2,300 Guard troops have been assigned to the mission — more than half are from Republican-controlled states. The suit says federally deputized troops are illegally acting as local police — patrolling, searching and arresting — while undermining D.C.’s autonomy, public trust and the local economy.
At the same time, the administration is looking to activate the National Guard in other cities like Chicago- which could also soon be the target of a major immigration enforcement operation.
“We’re not going to get any help from Washington. In fact, they’re going to do the opposite,” said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D).
“Well, we’re going in. I didn’t say when, we’re going in,” said Trump.
“Chicago, it’s coming,” said White House Border Czar Tom Homan at the National Conservatism Conference on Wednesday. “If I remember correctly, we arrested seven child sexual predators. Nine Tren de Aragua members. We took weapons off the street — they had a switch that made that handgun fully automatic. We arrested two illegal aliens with a murder conviction — one day.”
The president is also considering activating the National Guard in Republican-controlled states like Louisiana.
“Do we go to Chicago or do we go to a place like New Orleans where we have a great governor, Jeff Landry, who wants us to come in and straighten out a very nice section of this country that’s become quite, you know, quite tough, quite bad,” said Trump.
Uncertainty is prompting Democratic governors across the country to prepare.
“We’ve received no word that it is imminent by any stretch,” said Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), speaking to reporters in Philadelphia on Tuesday. “But given what the president’s rhetoric has been, given the way he has acted… the way he’s acted outside the bounds of the law — the president’s decision in Los Angeles, ruled to be unconstitutional — we have been preparing for this.”
In D.C., the National Guard reports only to the president, unlike the states, where governors have full control. The legal path for the president to deploy the National Guard outside of D.C. is rockier, especially after a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the administration’s use of the California National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles this summer violated federal law.
“The fact that Democrats have made so much noise on President Trump’s prioritization of bringing crime down in the major cities of America is ludicrous,” said Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-NY.). “Chicago’s shootings and murders are off the charts, and they have been for years.”
Republicans in Congress, including Langworthy, argue if it’s working in D.C., it can work elsewhere.
“You’ve got governors trying to cook the books and say since their crime has come down from the COVID peaks, the 2020 peaks, that somehow they’re good metrics. People are concerned about their safety in the major cities in America, and something’s got to be done,” Langworthy said.
