Trump expands National Guard role in policing
The president wants the Guard to take on a larger role in domestic law enforcement
What happened
President Donald Trump Monday ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to create a new "specialized" National Guard unit "dedicated to ensuring public safety and order" in Washington, D.C., and to ensure that every state's Guard is prepared to take a larger role in domestic law enforcement, including "quelling civil disturbances." Trump also called for a standing National Guard "quick reaction force" that could deploy anywhere in the U.S. on short notice.
Who said what
Creating these new National Guard units is the "clearest sign yet" that Trump intends to "expand the U.S. military's role in domestic law enforcement activities across the country," potentially for "political purposes," said CNN. The expansion of military policing comes as Trump "threatens to broaden deployments of the National Guard in cities run by his political enemies," starting with Chicago, The New York Times said.
Using the National Guard as police in states that don't want such deployments is "illegal," "unconstitutional," "un-American" and "exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said Monday. "If it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm."
What next?
Asked about his suggestion that he would send troops to Chicago, Trump "hedged," the Times said. "We may wait," he told reporters. "We may or may not, we may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do." The Pentagon said it was "reviewing" Trump's orders and "specific requirements" and "will provide updates or announcements as appropriate."
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