Trump has used the National Guard to take over law enforcement in Washington, DC, and is threatening to do something similar in Chicago, Baltimore, and other major cities. He wrote on Truth Social: "Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far. Pritzker needs help badly; he just doesn’t know it yet." “I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon."
Governor Pritzker of Illinois responded, “The president’s absurd characterizations do not match what is happening on the ground here. He has no idea what he’s talking about.” “There is no emergency that warrants the deployment of troops. He is insulting the people of Chicago by calling our home a hellhole — and anyone who takes his word at face value is insulting Chicagoans, too.” Pritzker warned governors of other states that their National Guard units would not be welcome in Chicago to help carry out Trump’s agenda.
Since the District of Columbia is not a state but is under federal governance, the president has the same authority as state governors to call up the DC National Guard. Trump, like governors, has a great deal of freedom in the duties he assigns to the DC National Guard. Other states that have sent National Guard troops to DC apparently ordered their troops to take their orders from Trump. However, Trump’s ability to utilize the National Guard for law enforcement outside the District of Columbia is quite different.
The governors of states where Trump has threatened to take over law enforcement, such as Chicago, Baltimore, and Los Angeles, have refused to use their National Guard for law enforcement. Trump can federalize state National Guard units, as he did in California. If he does so, however, they will be under the same prohibitions regarding law enforcement activities as regular U.S. military units. Law enforcement activities of regular federal and federalized troops are pretty much limited to protecting federal property and personnel, such as federal buildings and ICE agents.
The only time when the federal military can be used legally for law enforcement is during emergencies, limited by law to “invasion, domestic violence, or insurrection.” These are sudden, unexpected acts of violence that local and state governments do not immediately have adequate resources to suppress. Trump’s only rationalization for taking over law enforcement in DC, Chicago, Baltimore, and elsewhere is to fight crime, but crime is not an emergency.
Crime is a systemic problem with deep economic, social, and cultural roots that cannot be solved by sending federal troops into cities for shock troop-like crackdowns on criminal activity. Even the conservative Heritage Foundation says: “While government can manage crime in the short term through incarceration, it cannot address its root causes—this is the role of families, churches, and schools.”
If Trump had serious concerns about law enforcement in these cities, he would have increased federal funding to support state and local law enforcement. To the contrary, in April 2025, the Department of Justice (DOJ) made significant cuts to grant programs that support police and community safety efforts, with some $500 million in grant funding terminated. This is similar to Trump’s “political veto” of a bipartisan bill to increase funding for border security so he could declare illegal immigration a national emergency. Border security, like crime, is not an emergency but a systemic problem that can only be solved by addressing its root causes.
The root causes of crime have been studied extensively by criminologists in government agencies and universities for decades. While liberals and conservatives may differ regarding how best to address the problem of crime, there is a consensus among criminologists regarding its causes. The root causes of crime can be broadly categorized as individual, social, and environmental or living environment. The causes include poverty, unemployment, lack of education, drug and alcohol abuse, mental health issues, family instability, and antisocial peer associations or gangs.
If Trump were serious about fighting crime, he would be advocating programs that address the root causes. He would be raising tax rates on corporations and the ultrawealthy to provide universal basic services, including universal healthcare (physical and mental), affordable housing, lifelong quality education, a living minimum wage, affordable childcare, paid family leave, and other essentials for healthy, hopeful families and communities.
Instead, Trump demanded tax cuts for the wealthy and cuts in Medicaid and supplemental food assistance for the poor, and ultimately, cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and any sense of long-term economic security for millions. Increases in poverty, hunger, untreated illness, and economic insecurity are not going to solve the crime problem.
Trump seems to be trying to establish the legal authority to use state and federal military forces wherever and whenever he chooses for any purpose during whatever he claims to be a national emergency. Once the Supreme Court rules that he has the right to use National Guard or regular military troops for law enforcement in Los Angles, Chicago, and Baltimore, he will claim the right to use them for anything, anywhere he chooses.
One likely use will be to address the emergency of “voter fraud.” Troops could be ordered to detain and question any distinguishable race or class of people who might be “suspected” of trying to vote illegally. They could be ordered to seize voting machines and ballot boxes for “official recounts” if the vote doesn’t meet the expectations of the president. Troops and tanks could be used to shut down the public demonstrations and protests when they realize that their votes have been stolen. The nation would then be faced with a true emergency, with no one left but the people with the power to do anything about it.
We the people don’t have to wait for a national emergency to protect and defend our democracy. But we need to do everything we can to help people understand what is happening to our nation before it is too late. The general election of 2026 needs to be such a strong rejection of Trump and the members of Congress who have enabled him that the military troops will refuse to help overturn the election and will uphold their oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
With a new Congress committed to fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities, the corporate oligarchy that put Trump in power can be soundly defeated in the general elections of 2028. The nation can begin the process of healing from this nightmare. We still have the power and the time to solve the nation’s political problem before it becomes a national emergency.
John Ikerd
Sources:
https://www.pbs.org/.../fact-checking-trumps-claims-about...
https://www.usatoday.com/.../trimp-chicago.../85952061007/
https://www.nbcnews.com/.../illinois-democrats...
https://www.brookings.edu/.../whats-the-presidents-legal.../
https://ojp.gov/.../real-root-causes-violent-crime...
https://www.benchmarkanalytics.com/.../targeted-federal.../
https://preventingcrime.ca/.../2014/08/Causes_of_Crime.pdf
https://www.alliant.edu/blog/why-do-people-commit-crimes
https://www.macrotrends.net/.../crime-rate-statistics...