On 21 August 2025, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create units within the National Guard trained specifically to handle civil conflicts. Trump specifies that he is aiming to reach cities of higher crime rates. So far, the National Guard troops have been placed in Washington D.C., and Trump has said that the next city on the list is Chicago, Illinois.
Already, 2,274 National Guard troops have been deployed in Washington D.C. In order to do so, over half of these units have been mobilized from other states, as 934 of the troops were originally part of the D.C. National Guard. In addition, the Guard has started carrying weapons during patrol, directed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“I think that it’s dangerous to permit the National Guard to go to cities beyond D.C.,” junior Leila Sawicki said. “It sets a precedent that force is now an available tool for the government in case of civil unrest or pushback,”
Other cities Trump has mentioned wanting to send troops include New York City, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. Already, there has been an instance of National Guard troops and Marines being sent to LA, due to Trump invoking Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which states that the President may send units of the National Guard as necessary to suppress rebellion.
“I feel uneasy around soldiers carrying assault weapons and patrolling in armored vehicles,” religion teacher Paul Pryor Lorentz said. “If the National Guard were deployed in San Francisco, I would feel alarmed, especially if it wasn’t in response to a national disaster or warranted by measurably serious violence. As a Catholic, I pray that societies can seek non-militarized solutions to societal issues,”
Some officials are in favor of the guards, but many DC city officials are not, explaining how before the takeover, the crime rate was already at the lowest it had been in more than 3 decades. However, President Trump has claimed that his decision had already made DC safer, after visiting a Police facility in this city this past Thursday.
“I don’t think it’s a smart idea, because all he’s really doing is spreading fear around to these people who live there,” freshman Mabel Rheingold said. “And he’s making it seem like a bigger deal than it actually is,”
Additionally, the response from residents in Washington DC to the guards has already been negative. According to a poll from the Washington Post, eight in ten citizens “oppose Trump’s executive order federalizing policing”.
“Even though the reasoning for deploying the National Guard seems harmless and maybe even helpful right now, it could quickly become something bigger,” Sawicki said. “And it could become out of the average civilian, city, or state’s control.”
