President Trump and the National Guard

When President Trump ordered the National Guard to safeguard American’s capital, Washington DC, in mid August from “violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals” there was a huge outcry of disbelief, and even horror, from residents and political commentators alike, at what seemed to be an unnecessary action, in a city that has seen a 33 percent drop in homicides, and seemed to be another example of presidential overreach, and while many did Google searches on crime statistics and protested the guard being used this way, and while vast legions of talking heads appeared on national television and social media decrying the president's actions, much seemed, especially, in hindsight to have missed the point of Trump’s actions.

This seems not to be about crime, at all, but reflects long held statements by the president on Democratic cities, and the general belief that their leadership, in fact, all Democrats were soft on crime; a belief that has roots from Richard Nixon who ran on a law and order platform and reached the heights of the George Floyd protests, that were tagged by violent hooligans who seized the opportunity for theft and mayhem; and, all of which played into the hands of Republicans who funneled the perception of Democratic leadership ignoring violent crime while they upheld trans rights and affirmative action for Blacks in employment and university admissions.

This is not to say that crime does not exist in many large American cities, it does, and tackling a complicated issue requires more than political posturing, and as The New York Times noted in a report, locking up criminals, addressing the root causes of crime has experts they consulted pointing “to an unclaimed middle ground for savvy politicians who want to acknowledge the problem, put aside the clash between facts and feelings and focus on what works.”

While Washington, DC has had a severe crime reduction for the most violent of crimes, an incident with a former DOGE staffer who was violently assaulted in an attempted car jacking, the time for the administration to act was now, and this they did, and in well publicized statements,Trump set up a test pilot to continue the actions of the guards to Democratically led cities especially, the bluest of the blues, Chicago, and set up a perfect storm to create the chaos that he began in his first term of office.

Crime and crime stats are not the point, but the intentions to harness the base of his support to see him as a strongman against lefty liberals who can’t control their cities is sure to shore up support in the upcoming midterms, where despite overall strength, the president is seeing his support dwindle; especially, among worried seniors and low income people, who for the most part wholeheartedly voted to put him back in office, and who might defect over potential losses for health coverage from The Big Beautiful Bill, and who in ruby red town halls saw Republican lawmakers booed, hissed, and shouted down by constituents, now discouraged by national leadership.

 

Whether this will bring them back from the brink of possible defection  is in question, but Trump who wants to keep the Dems from taking back the House  in the upcoming mid term elections needs these potential defectors whose lives for the most part, lie outside of large urban areas; and, if you add the brouhaha over the Epstein files, with subsequent protests from his base who feel deserted by his seeming abandonment of the Deep State, and the disastrous press meeting by Attorney General Pam Bondi, that she had not cleared with the White House, and her backtracking on the existence of a client list kept By Epstein that she previously said was on her desk later changing her statement to say she had lots of files on her desk, it’s obvious that Trump is worried about taking a drumming in the midterms.

It may be that some plans were being made for the National Guard to be called in to safeguard the public in Washington, the earlier play in June in Los Angeles was a starting point for a boost to the base, and to serve as a distraction from the Epstein furor, has made that effort a template for future actions.

Taking things further, on Monday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth ordered the use of side weapons for the guard in Washington, DC, but while this is a significant development, some residents, and media, have reported that they are also picking up trash, and painting over graffiti in the capital city, and earlier reports did say they the guard would be used as part of a beautification effort which has raised suspicion among cynics in Washington, of which are not in short supply in the city.

Some crime statisticians have attributed beautification efforts as a crime deterrent in cities like Baltimore, according to The New York Times.

As CNN reported, “President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday tasking his secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, with establishing “specialized units” in the National Guard that will be “specifically trained and equipped to deal with public order issues” — the clearest sign yet he intends to expand the US military’s role in domestic law enforcement activities across the country.”

Interestingly enough, guard units have been pulled from red states to patrol DC who voted overwhelmingly for Trump, but ironically have much higher crime rates in their respective states of West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, Louisiana and Tennessee.

“A US official told CNN on Monday that some troops will carry M4 rifles, as that is their primary weapon, whereas military police, for example, primarily use a M17 handgun. A Joint Task Force spokesperson said the troops are authorized to use their firearms for “personal protection” only, meaning self defense— and “not for policing.”

While this bolsters the president’s efforts, it also creates some confusion, of what they can do or not to do. It’s important to know that since the District of Columbia is not a state with only semi autonomous rule, Congress, and the president, can control much of the governance of the capital city.

“The DC National Guard is unique in that the president has the authority to activate them under Title 32, though that authority is typically delegated to the secretary of the Army. Otherwise, National Guard troops elsewhere in the country are under the control of their governors while on Title 32,” of the Posse Comitatus Act. 

Notably, Trump however did go over the head of California governor, Gavin Newsom to Los Angeles to protect federal buildings amidst protests against ICE deportations of undocumented persons, something that may happen in Chicago, as early as next week says Tom Homan, the designated Border Czar, to round up undocumented immigrants, creating a perfect storm for residents.

In a Monday press conference, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, along with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, said that the threat was a publicity stunt to distract Americans from Trump’s failed policies.

Ahead of the governor’s statements was this: “DC sets a bad example,” said “Rachel Van Landingham, a former Air Force judge advocate and current law professor at Southwestern Law School, told CNN on Monday,” adding, “It sets an example of normalizing this when nothing is normal about it, and DC is not representative of other states. … It would just be a whole new world for them to try a Washington, DC-type maneuver in Chicago or anywhere else that’s not Washington, DC, because Washington, DC, is so legally different than any other area.”

A question of stagecraft versus statecraft is on the minds of some observers, but a distinction may be hard to discern, say others. But, Pritzker did note in his opening remarks, “What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.”

“No one from the White House or the executive branch has reached out to me or to the mayor. No one has reached out to our staffs. No effort has been made to coordinate or to ask for our assistance in identifying any actions that might be helpful to us. Local law enforcement has not been contacted. We have made no requests for federal intervention. None.”

Warming to the occasion, Pritzker added, “If this was really about fighting crime and making the streets safe, what possible justification could the White House have for planning such an exceptional action without any conversations or consultations with the governor, the mayor, or the police?

Let me answer that question: This is not about fighting crime. This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try and intimidate his political rivals.”

"This is about the president of the United States and his complicit lackey, Stephen Miller, searching for ways to lay the groundwork to circumvent our democracy, militarize our cities and end elections.”

Political and financial costs of migrants in the US

The ongoing migrant crisis in the United States has become a definitive issue for the country and its elected officials as they attempt to grapple with the influx of over 100, 000 people mostly from Central and South America, after being sent to Northern states by Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott in August of 2023 and has also become a central issue in the November presidential elections, especially by the presumed Republican nominee, Donald Trump, as he attempts to regain the White House after losing to Joe Biden, indeed, immigration has become a central plank in his undeclared campaign platform.

Reprising his previous statements in the 2016 campaign, he has also told his base that the migrants are poisoning the bloodlines of Americans, and blaming the increase to President Biden, who has struggled with the burgeoning crisis, and has given piecemeal contributions to the welfare and housing of their families, as well as to individuals, while there is a deliberate pushback in receiving cities such as Denver, Los Anglees and Chicago where residents have fought against housing them in their communities; but, for some observers,this is ironic,since many are descended from immigrant ancestors.

Despite, or perhaps because of American nativism, seen in the New York Draft Riots of , 1863 and the resulting backlash against Irish arrivals (who were frequently lampooned in cartoons of the era), shows the receptivity of Trump’s message on ready ears. And, he has said, if re-elected, he would round up migrants and deport them to their home countries.

For many Americans there is no distinguishing between asylum seekers, protected by international law, and illegal immigration, and, as some in the national media have noted, for many, the facts don’t matter.

Recently overheard on a bus in Chicago, was an elderly white man yelling about polluted bloodlines by the immigrants, mostly who are Venezuelan, and blaming Biden for “allowing them in,” while some heads nodded in agreement.

Chicago has approximately 12,000 migrants residing in shelters across the city, of the more than 36,300, reported by The Chicago Tribune. 

Taking a wider look, and turning back to Abbott, he has sent, according to the Texas Tribune,102,000 migrants to Northern cities including New York, to the tune of $148 million from his state coffers.

For the receiving cities, the subsequent financial cost has been a burden and the new mayoral administration of Brandon Johnson, has struggled to keep up,bleeding cash, to the tune of $1.5 million each day. A trip last November to meet with White House officials for $5 billion in help did not materialize.

Federal help to migrants is currently limited to three methods: the Temporary Protective Status, governed by The US Secretary of the Dept. of Homeland Security for those people unable to return to their homes, and offers temporary work permits for Venezuelans, and others in the country arriving before July 31, 2023. Asylum seekers can seek work permits after 150 days of residence

Then there is Asylum, for those fleeing their home countries to evade persecution due to “race, religion, political opinion or other factors,” reported Crain’s Chicago Business.. 

The third is Parole, (separate from the criminal system) which the government grants to those people to determine admittance for humanitarian benefits, making them eligible for work permits. But, all three of these three routes are overburdened by administrative and technical challenges with the software used to access the program.

What remains is inadequate and the Republican dominated U.S. House of Representatives is reluctant to take a much needed legislative effort for fear of giving support to the Biden reelection campaign, but as we have noted before in 1965 the Immigration and Nationality Act favored skilled immigrants and family reunification rather than a country quota, and in 1986, the Immigration Reform and Control Act legalized “millions of unauthorized immigrants, mainly from Latin America, who met certain conditions.”

Since that time Congress has failed to pass comprehensive immigration law and new rules for asylum seekers, bringing us to this current juncture.

Chicago news stories of immigrant mothers reusing diapers, being served bad food, and suffering abusive staff has not helped Johnson’s efforts, especially since many from the city's traditional white ethnic communities did not want another Black mayor after the defeated, and much maligned, Lori Lightfoot.

Backlash from advocates for the homeless community has also been strident as have those from some members of the local Latino leadership, and individuals who protest that some of the recent arrivals are getting work permits, while undocumented residents have labored in the shadows, being taxed without representation, for years. A protest held on Saturday in the Pilsen neighborhood did just that.

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Adding further fuel to the fire are longtime Chicago Black residents, who have faced decades of racial discrimination, and feel that they are being discriminated against, and are being passed over, and many have expressed their frustration with Johnson for his help to the migrants.

As we were told some months back, falsely, by an older Black woman, “the migrants are getting $7,000 a month.” These sentiments echo much of the tensions in Chicago,and reverberating in other urban areas receiving large influxes of immigrants.

Money to help them settle in the States is a central issue, and at the end of February, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker rolled out a proposed $52.7 billion budget, of which he has included $182 million for the new arrivals.

WTTW, Chicago’s PBS affiliate reported that, "Leaders say that amount, combined with funding from Cook County and potentially the city of Chicago, is enough to cover the crisis through the end of the calendar year”.

They also noted that “Pritzker used amplified rhetoric to make his case for the funding, chastising Illinois’ three Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives for recently voting down a federal immigration overhaul “because Donald Trump told them to, and they’re afraid of him.” Pritzker also reprimanded Texas Gov. Greg Abbot for transporting nearly 36,000 asylum seekers to Chicago.

“Children, pregnant women and the elderly have been sent here in the dead of night, left far from our designated welcome centers, in freezing temperatures, wearing flip flops and T-shirts. Think about that the next time a politician from Texas wants to lecture you about being a good Christian,” Pritzker said to loud applause from Democratic lawmakers. “Listen, maybe some of you think we should just say, ‘This is not our problem,’ and that we should let the migrant families starve or freeze to death. But that’s not what decent Midwesterners do. That’s not what leaders do. We didn’t ask for this manufactured crisis. But we must deal with it all the same.”

“However, Democratic reluctance has so far kept the General Assembly from approving the $160 million Pritzker diverted from this year’s budget in November to spend on the migrant response. It’s expected he’ll have to negotiate to get members of his party on board with the additional $182 million, given that members of the minority party are openly hostile to the idea.”

Meanwhile in Denver local and state budgets are being stretched to the limits to provide basic humanitarian need after spending $60 million, and Mayor Mike Johnston has said while the early morning arrivals of people dressed in shorts and sandals left homeless on the streets is not a sight he wants to see, told USA TODAY, “we don’t want that to happen but we also know that we can’t provide an infinite amount of services. We’re having to pull back the amount of services we can provide, the number of people we can serve, and figure out how to balance the budget to get there.”