This legislative ask is designed to be shared with your members of Congress and their staff.

The United States is founded on principles of democratic governance, and at its core the military has no place policing our streets.  Yet, over the last year, from the South to the Midwest and along each coast, loopholes enable the executive branch to deploy the National Guard to U.S. cities. The risk? State sovereignty, national security, and troop morale.

Capitalizing on this ambiguity, President Trump has attempted to deploy troops to Los Angeles, CA; Washington, D.C.; Portland, OR; Chicago, IL; and Memphis, TN. Despite some deployment pauses following a preliminary Supreme Court ruling against them, President Trump has declared, “We will come back” and it is “only a question of time.”

First, through displays of intimidation, deployments undermine civil liberties and civilian-police relations. Relatedly, the presence of a Presidential militia policing streets violates state sovereignty and the 10th Amendment. 

Support & Cosponsor the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act (S. 2198/H.R.6533)

Second, the National Guard has a mission and can be called upon to support states such as in times of emergency like a natural disaster or supporting wartime efforts. The National Guard has an important role to in our national security. In the District of Columbia, they were laying mulch and picking up trash rather than observing their mission. 

Finally, the deployments damage troop morale. Eleven retired generals wrote in an amicus brief, that politicization, like is currently occurring, will erode trust and respect for the military in the mind of the public.

Support and Pass the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act (S. 2198/H.R.6533):

  • Restricting the president’s ability to unilaterally deploy troops to a confined set of circumstances: a humanitarian crisis, natural disaster, public health emergency, attack on critical infrastructure, military assault, or domestic terrorist incident. 
  • Mandating the president provide Congress a written explanation when deploying troops. 
  • Forbidding the president from deploying troops for longer than 14 days without a joint resolution of congressional approval. 

Contact: José Moreno, Director, Justice Reform, Jose@fcnl.org