President’s Bold Move: Deploying the National Guard for Local Law Enforcement
Soldiers from the National Guard occupying American cities. Military-grade weaponry utilized against suspected global drug rings. Defense facilities and assets being diverted to large-scale immigration clampdowns. President Trump is expeditiously putting into action his perspective of the military as a highly effective instrument serving his policy aims. Outside of war periods, few presidents have ventured into this territory. Some experts suggest this is transforming the function of the world’s most potent military and its rapport with the American citizens. The President’s significant amplification of military application was followed by a lukewarm response by his Republican Congress peers, who often hold the power to authorize such actions. His plans to deploy soldiers to cities like Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans, therefore, continue unhindered.
Sen. Roger Wicker, who heads the Senate Armed Services Committee, stated, ‘If I were in the position of those city mayors, I’d welcome the assistance. I believe the urban Democrats are committing a major oversight. They appear not to be understanding public sentiment.’ Republicans, especially from Louisiana – a largely conservative state geographically wrapping up the predominantly Democratic city of New Orleans – lauded the plan to dispatch National Guard troops to the city. A Republican representative from Louisiana described the move as beneficial, given that New Orleans, akin to many Democrat-led cities, struggles with elevated crime rate.
Aligning in thought, Sen. John Kennedy added, ‘We’re in dire need of any assistance that we can receive. The prospect of the National Guard joining us is certainly a welcome one.’ In recent political history, the Republicans have managed to captivate the electorate through focus on crime-related issues. Latest polls reveal a noteworthy 81% American majority identifying crime as a severe concern in major cities. Paradoxically, the data also suggests a national decline in crime, with certain cities marking the lowest crime rates in three decades.
Traditionally, the deployment of the National Guard within the United States was perceived as a measure of last resort, used in extreme situations such as severe disasters or escalating civil disruptions. The predecessors of the office seldom mobilized the troops for law enforcement tasks. Some exceptions include the enforcement of desegregation during the Civil Rights era, post the infamous Rodney King incident in 1992 and during the 1894 Pullman strike.
The unique factor about the President’s law and order mission is that it is not a reaction to a particular emergency. Instead, it seems the President is utilizing the armed forces as a tool to execute his local policy agendas, which includes measures like using military aircraft for deportations, boosting military presence along the US-Mexico border or prepping National Guard troops for possible law enforcement roles.
An advocate at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program struck a note of caution by stating, ‘These collective actions reveal an administration bent on embedding the military into civilian law enforcement. The intensity and scale of this course of action are unseen in American history.’ The president insists on his ‘right’ to send National Guard troops to various cities, regardless of any disagreements with the respective state governors.
As per its constitutional obligations, Congress has put in place laws that dictate the circumstances and manner in which National Guard deployment on domestic ground can occur. Yet, when the President appeared to stretch these laws, Congress remained passive. The onus thus fell on the judiciary to provide checks and balances to the Presidential approach.
A federal court judge, just last week, determined that the administration deliberately violated the Posse Comitatus Act— an almost century and a half old law that restrains the domestic enforcement role of the U.S. military. This decision was made in light of the June deployment of National Guard forces in Los Angeles. The judge underlined the President’s and the Defense Secretary’s stated intentions to replicate this strategy in other cities nationwide, raising apprehensions about the creation of a nationwide police force under the President’s command.
The current employment of the National Guard embodies what the Constitution’s framers sought to prevent. The memory of the War of Independence, triggered by the British military’s law enforcement role in the colonies, was fresh in the minds of the country’s early leaders, leading them to limit presidential power over the military. However, subsequent Presidents have gradually increased their authority over what began as state-level militias.
The present shifts indicate another potential turning point for the National Guard, which may tilt towards a more federal role or perhaps retreat to a more local function. However, from the moment America came into existence, the inclination seems to be towards the federal side.