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Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said she doubts the federal deployment of the National Guard to cities across the country is legal, as President Trump has moved to send troops to respond to crime.
Speaking Wednesday at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women in Washington conference, the mayor was asked about not supporting the use of the National Guard to suppress crime.
“I don’t think it’s legal, let me start here, for the National Guard to monitor Americans on American soil,” Bowser said.
The mayor went on to explain how the D.C. National Guard is under the authority of the president, while the state National Guard is usually under the governor’s control.
Democrats are trying to flip the script on states’ rights to challenge and overturn Trump’s National Guard plan
Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said she is skeptical that the federal deployment of the National Guard to cities across the country is legal. (Ting Xin/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The mission and the way we use the National Guard — unlike most states where the governor can call up the chief of the National Guard or their own National Guard — in D.C., the D.C. National Guard reports to the president,” Bowser said.
She continued, “While I can ask for the National Guard, they operate entirely federally. So D.C. is a little different than other places for the D.C. National Guard.”
The mayor added: “We use the Guard to respond to emergencies. We use the Guard for large-scale events. We do not use the Guard to monitor our local laws.”
In recent months, Trump has strengthened the presence of federal law enforcement in the country washington dc, In an attempt to reduce crime. Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops were deployed on the streets of the capital as part of the federal control of the region.
Hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops were deployed on the streets of the capital as part of the federal control of the region. (Jacqueline Martin/AP Photo)
Trump also deployed troops to several other Democratic-led cities, including Chicago. The city, along with its home state of Illinois, has taken the federal government to court over the deployment.
A federal appeals court partially returned control of the Illinois National Guard to the federal government, but blocked Trump from deploying troops on the streets of Chicago or across Illinois.
Trump also deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer to respond to anti-ICE protests sparked by federal immigration raids targeting migrant workers at local businesses. California officials sued over the federal deployment.
‘They’re embarrassing us’: National Guard presence in D.C. sparks fiery clash at Capitol
President Donald Trump has deployed troops in several Democratic-led cities, including Chicago. (AFP/Laura Bargfield)
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In her remarks Wednesday, Bowser said Americans in Washington and across the country should be concerned about what the deployments mean for the country’s democracy.
“We should all be concerned about using the military because it is a slippery slope,” she said.
“You can use it for crowd control one day, or presence the next — it’s not a long jump to use it in other ways that could run counter to the nature of American democracy,” Bowser said.