by Yasmin Sheikh and Elise Yang ‘27

President Donald Trump in recent weeks has expanded the deployment of the National Guard to cities as he claims to address what he calls the emergent issues of illegal immigration, protests, crime, and homelessness. However, in reality, the National Guard has been busy with beautification efforts like picking up trash and patrolling highly trafficked tourist areas with very little crime. Trump’s use of the National Guard in American cities is not only unnecessary but extremely concerning. By normalizing the federalization of local policing and the weaponization of the U.S. military against Democratic cities and states, Trump aims to intimidate locally elected leaders and voters who put them in office. In effect, Trump is taking actions that threaten democracy.

In June, Trump deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles to stop protesters opposed to the Trump Administration’s targeted crackdown on undocumented immigrants. He ordered 2,000 troops to “protect federal immigration officers” from the so-called ‘riots’ against deportation. This was done without the California governor’s approval, which violated a federal law, prompting California to sue Trump and his administration. A U.S. district judge ruled that the deployment of the National Guard was in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, an act that forbade the use of the military when dealing with domestic issues without the approval of Congress.

The Trump administration has not been deterred by the fact that its policies have violated federal law, as Trump continues to threaten more cities with National Guard deployment. Beginning in the summer, Washington, DC looked noticeably different with hundreds of troops dispersed at Metro stops and the National Mall. National Guard members patrolled Union Station and other areas with firearms. Residents and tourists at restaurants with outdoor seating on the Wharf ate their meals as groups of the National Guard patrolled up and down the waterfront walkway. Tourism rates in DC have since dropped, affecting businesses. Restaurant reservations, hotel bookings, and overall foot traffic in DC has seen reductions, according to an article on Fox Business.

The first six weeks of the DC deployment were expected to cost $75 million; the big payoff being Guard members seen at a park downtown clearing leaves. The effects of this deployment on the relationship between citizens and the military are huge. Eighty percent of DC residents are against Trump’s takeover, according to a poll by the Washington Post. A CBS News poll conducted in September showed that 57 percent of Americans oppose the deployment of the National Guard in DC and to other cities.

On September 15, Trump announced that he would be sending the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee, a city whose population is 63 percent black, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, in order to ‘combat crime’. Trump’s effort to deploy the National Guard to Memphis has the support of the state’s republican governor but faced significant resistance from the Memphis City Council. Even though Trump has continually claims that cities like Memphis are “disasters,” members of the National Guard were not spotted in Memphis until October 1. Trump’s use of the National Guard acts as leverage, allowing him to threaten their deployment on Democratically led cities, rather than as real solutions that address any of the issues Trump claims are posing critical threats.

Details about Trump’s plan to send the National Guard to Portland were unveiled in a memo sent to the Department of Defense on September 30 ordering their deployment. Soon after, the plan was blocked by federal Judge Karin Immergut from Oregon. Immergut, a Trump appointed judge, ruled that Trump’s claims about how dangerous Portland had become as a result of protests were not backed by any real evidence. The White House’s response was to send the National Guard troops from California to Oregon, which was countered again by an expanded ruling by Immergut that limited all National Guard deployments in Oregon.

At a speech given to the top generals and commanders in the U.S. military in Quantico, Virginia, Trump recalled a conversation with Pete Hegseth, the U.S. Defense Secretary. He told Hegseth that the urban areas of the United States should be used as “training grounds” for the military. Trump and Hegseth suggest another reason for deploying the National Guard is to reform the military itself, and “declar[e] an end to “woke” culture at the Pentagon” as mentioned by Hegseth. In the same speech, Trump said that the military will be used to fight the “enemy within.” Let’s state the obvious, Trump isn’t talking about violent criminals; he’s talking about American citizens in American cities who resist the actions of his administration.

After weeks of threats about deploying the National Guard to Chicago, Trump authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago on October 1 shortly after alleged violence that broke out between immigration officials and protesters. Trump is receiving significant backlash from Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, who expressed a strong opposition against the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago, describing it as unnecessary. Trump called for the jailing of Mayor Johnson, as well as Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, through social media for “failing to protect ICE officers.”

Both military and constitutional experts are correctly expressing alarm about the normalization of sending the U.S. military into American cities and what it could lead to. As one legal expert put it, this is new “uncharted territory” by a president, one who has sworn to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

What does this mean for the future of the United States and its citizens? With Trump’s ongoing plans to deploy the National Guard in St. Louis and discussed possibilities in Baltimore, New York City, and New Orleans, Trump is continuing to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-run and democratic-voting cities where he claims there is a public safety emergency of “complete and total lawlessness” and “horrible crime.” Let’s be honest; the purpose of Trump’s deployments are to assert his authority and intimidate anyone who stands against him.