In late September, Trump said that “an enemy within” was the reason for sending Guard members into US cities. He also suggested the military “should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military”
The head of US Northern Command has pushed back against President Donald Trump’s claim that an “invasion [from] within” or an “enemy within” justifies deploying the National Guard to American cities.
“I do not have any indications of an enemy within,” Gen. Gregory Guillot told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee when asked about Trump’s remarks. “We maintain readiness to execute the orders to defend the homeland in many ways, but I have not been tasked in that way.”
In late September, Trump said that “an enemy within” was the reason for sending Guard members into US cities. He also suggested the military “should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military,” specifically pointing to Democratic-led cities.
“This is going to be a big thing for the people in this room, because it’s the enemy from within, and we have to handle it before it gets out of control,” Trump told generals in September at Quantico. “It won’t get out of control once you’re involved at all.”
Divide in National Guard politics
Guillot’s testimony, delivered at the start of a hearing examining Trump’s deployments, highlighted the political divide over the issue. Republican lawmakers argued that the Guard was needed to curb lawlessness because local leaders had failed to protect the public, while Democrats contended the deployments represented an abuse of military authority and infringed on states’ rights.
“In recent years, violent crime, rioting, drug trafficking, and heinous gang activity have steadily escalated,” said committee chair Sen. Roger Wicker. He called the deployments to cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Portland, and Memphis “not only appropriate, but essential.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) added that the deployments “would not be necessary [if] state and local officials were helping get criminal illegal aliens and violent repeat offenders off the streets.” According to Budd, “The problem had metastasised, and President Trump needed to step in.”
Democrats on the panel, however, questioned the legality of sending troops into cities over objections from state and local officials.
“The decisionmakers, and the words coming out of the mouth of the commander in chief, using our cities as ‘training grounds’ … going after ‘the enemy within’, does not give us confidence that this president is going to always use the military in an apolitical way that’s exclusively meant on protecting the United States,” said Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.).
Dems question Guard deployment
Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a combat veteran and former Illinois National Guard member, stressed that Guard units have traditionally focused on responding to natural disasters, not assisting immigration enforcement.
“Trump is forcing [service members] to make a horrible choice: Uphold their loyalty to the Constitution and protect peaceful protesters, or execute orders from the president,” Duckworth said. “Our troops could be dragged into court and would be on their own to plead their case to a jury, all because their commander in chief put them in an unprecedented situation that they don’t regularly train for.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) questioned Young about reports that the Trump administration removed military lawyers who objected to deploying the Guard domestically and to striking alleged drug boats off Venezuela’s coast. Young denied those reports, stating that “Leadership is very attentive” to military legal concerns when they arise.
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