Summary
- Trump targets Chicago next for a federal crime
crackdown. - New York also planned for law enforcement action.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders weapons for DC
troops. - Trump may deploy a regular military alongside the
National Guard. - Plans follow recent crackdowns in Washington, D.C.
crackdown.
The military department did not immediately
provide any additional information regarding the new development or the reasons
behind its abrupt announcement that it would now arm the federalized troops in
Washington, DC.
The US president talked to reporters in the Oval
Office and said:
“When ready, we will start in Chicago … Chicago is a mess.”
He
added that then the administration “will help with New York”, amid the
controversial and aggressive federal efforts to control leading Democratic-voting
cities, each of which has a Black mayor.
With about 2,000 national guard personnel
stationed in the nation’s capital, the action represents an increase in the
federal government’s infrequent involvement in city policing.
To support the DC national guard, hundreds of
troops from numerous states with Republican governors arrived earlier this
week.
Last Wednesday, the US army and the Pentagon
declared that troops would not be carrying guns.
According to a person familiar with the
discussions, earlier this week the city was notified of the intention to arm the national guard. The individual spoke
on condition of anonymity and was not allowed to reveal the plans.
A defense official told CNN:
“At the direction
of the secretary of defense, [Joint Task Force] JTF-DC members supporting the
mission to lower the crime rate in our nation’s capital will soon be on mission
with their service-issued weapons, consistent with their mission and training.”
Under legislation and constitutional powers that
give the federal government more control over the nation’s capital than other
cities, Trump assumed leadership of the Washington, DC, police department
earlier this month and sent out the national guard. Despite local authorities’
protests, the US president asserts that the district’s homelessness and crime
rate represent a crisis.
The state governor is in charge of the force and
has the authority to send out the national guard in an emergency. In other
states, the state is in charge of the national guard. Rarely, during a declared
national emergency—usually at the governor of the state in question’s request—the
federal government assumes command of a state’s national guard.
In an almost unprecedented anomaly, Trump
federalized the California national guard earlier this summer in response to
protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in sections of Los
Angeles, despite the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, objecting.
Hegseth’s directives follow a day after top
federal prosecutor Jeanine Pirro of the District of Columbia, who limited
prosecutors’ discretion as the Trump administration stepped up its law
enforcement presence in the capital, told them to press for the most serious
charges in cases involving recent arrests.
“In line with President Trump’s directive to
make DC safe, US attorney Pirro has made it clear that the old way of doing
things is unacceptable,”
spokesman Tim Lauer told the newspaper.
“She directed
her staff to charge the highest crime that is supported by the law and the
evidence.”
According to Pirro’s response, the regulation
does not apply to situations involving serious crimes or people who are
prohibited from possessing firearms. She claimed that the modification was made
in response to advice from the US Supreme Court and the solicitor general of
the Justice Department.
Trump announced the success of his takeover of
the Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday.
He had previously hinted that he might target
additional cities with Black mayors and a high Democratic vote, including New
York, Chicago, Oakland, Baltimore, and another mission in Los Angeles. Wes
Moore, the governor of Maryland, said that community violence prevention
initiatives were reducing crime in Baltimore and that he would never call in
the national guard “for theatrics.”
What legal authority allows federal troops to
carry firearms in DC?
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued an
order authorizing National Guard members stationed in D.C. to carry
“service-issued firearms” while performing law enforcement-related
duties as part of the Joint Task Force-D.C.
This authorization has received formal approval
from the U.S. Marshals Service.
National Guard troops involved in direct law
enforcement support will be armed, while those involved in non-law enforcement
activities may remain unarmed.
The Posse Comitatus Act, which generally
prohibits the use of federal military forces for domestic law enforcement, does
not apply to National Guard troops under state authority or in D.C. due to its
unique status. However, when National Guard troops are federally activated
under Title 10, they become subject to Posse Comitatus restrictions unless
explicitly waived.
