Armed Troops and Rising Tensions: The U.S. Security Situation

U.S. National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington D.C., as part of President Donald Trump’s stated crackdown on crime, will begin carrying weapons on Sunday night, according to two officials. The exact number of armed troops is not set, but they will be carrying either their M17 pistols or M4 rifles. For the past two weeks, hundreds of unarmed National Guard troops have been in Washington after Trump declared a crime emergency in the district. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the troops to carry weapons last week. Meanwhile, Trump has suggested he would likely expand his crime crackdown to other Democrat-run cities like Chicago and Baltimore. However, Democratic House of Representatives Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Sunday that Trump did not have the authority to deploy troops to Chicago and called the move an attempt to manufacture a crisis. He pointed out that crime, including murders, has declined in Chicago over the past year. Similarly, according to Baltimore’s mayor, the city has had 84 homicides so far this year—the fewest in over 50 years. Despite this, Trump stated on social media that he would send in the “troops” if Baltimore’s governor needed help. Trump has much more power over Washington, D.C., as a federal district, than he does over Chicago and Baltimore. Federal law, Title 10 of the U.S. Code, allows the president to deploy National Guard units to suppress a rebellion or execute the law. However, Trump is almost certain to face legal challenges if he uses this provision, known as Section 12406, to send National Guard troops from Republican-led states into Democratic strongholds.