A National Guard member stands in the shade of the Lincoln Memorial yesterday. Photo / Craig Hudson, for The Washington Post
President Donald Trump yesterday directed the United States National Guard to prepare for deeper involvement in any future civil unrest throughout the US.
He also called for the creation of a new military unit that is deputised to enforce federal laws, specifically in Washington DC.
The President issued the orders as he muses openly about deploying US troops to other major US cities.
He has touted his efforts so far to assume greater federal control over the District, where more than 2200 National Guard members have been mobilised to support an expansive - and polarising - law enforcement mission.
State and local leaders in some of those jurisdictions have decried the idea, portraying Trump’s domestic employment of the military as an “un-American” power grab.
In his executive order, Trump directed Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to ensure that each state’s National Guard is trained, organised and prepared to respond to civil disturbances within their jurisdictions.
He called for the creation of a standing rapid-response force composed of Guard members that can go anywhere in the US on little notice.
It was not immediately clear how the orders will take shape. In a statement, the Pentagon acknowledged Trump’s directive but said little else about it.
“The Department is reviewing the order and its specific requirements,” it said. “We will provide updates or announcements as appropriate.”
DC guard unit:
The new DC National Guard unit would be activated under Title 32, the same section of US law under which Trump directed Guard members to deploy this month after complaining about the city’s efforts to address violent crime.
Other Cabinet officials who oversee law enforcement agencies were directed to co-ordinate with Hegseth and “deputise the members of this unit to enforce federal law”, the order says.
Trump has declared a “crime emergency” in DC, though data maintained by the city’s police department shows that instances of violent crime have fallen since 2023.
The Justice Department and Republicans in the House have launched investigations into whether DC police manipulated crime statistics to make them appear lower, as Trump has alleged.
Rapid-response unit:
The National Guard’s rapid-response unit was first reported by the Washington Post this month as the initiative took shape.
Planning documents show the Administration wants a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force”, with about 600 troops on standby at all times who are ready to deploy within an hour.
They would be split into two groups of 300 and stationed at military bases in Alabama and Arizona.
Deployment to Chicago:
Trump yesterday also responded to a furious backlash from elected leaders and others in Illinois after the Post first reported that there is active military planning for the potential deployment of thousands of troops - either National Guard or active-duty personnel - to Chicago in a model that could be used in other cities.
Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both Democrats, have said there is no emergency that warrants such action.
Trump, speaking in the Oval Office, muddied the water when asked about his plans for Chicago.
At first, he called the city “a disaster” and said that Pritzker should be asking for federal help in addressing violent crime there. But the President stopped short of saying he would order a military deployment, saying that until he gets a request from Pritzker, “I’m not going to do anything about it”.
Moments later, however, he said his Administration “may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do”. The legality of such an effort, without the consent of local officials, would almost certainly be challenged in court.
Pritzker, as Governor, oversees the Illinois National Guard. Trump can federalise and deploy Guard members there for narrow and specific missions, but Pritzker has made it clear he is opposed to any such effort.
The governor addressed the issue again yesterday, saying that no one on Trump’s staff has contacted him about a deployment and that circumstances in the city do not merit what he characterised as a heavy-handed approach.
“If it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm - one that I hope every person listening will heed, both here in Illinois and across the country,” the governor said.
Such a deployment, he said, “is exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against - and it’s the reason they established a federal system with a separation of powers built on checks and balances”.
Pritzker said: “What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. And it is un-American.”
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