“Those who give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety,” Benjamin Franklin said. By deploying the National Guard in D.C., the Trump Administration is sacrificing our right to self govern under the false narrative of protecting public safety.
On Aug. 11, President Donald Trump declared a “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C. and federalized the police force for 30 days. Soon after, more than 2,000 National Guard troops arrived in the city—not only from D.C. but also from six Republican-led states: West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. The soldiers now patrol Metro stations, the National Mall and other areas throughout the city. Some carry weapons, while others have been assigned tasks such as landscaping and picking up trash, part of D.C.’s “beautification.”
Their presence is not just about safety or crime. Instead, Trump’s deployment of the National Guard represents an authoritarian and oppressive approach to governance.
Trump framed the deployment as a necessary response to crime in D.C. However, earlier this year, D.C.’s violent crime hit a 30-year low. There is simply no public safety crisis that would warrant thousands of armed troops patrolling our streets. Trump’s justification compared to the actual data makes it clear that his deployment of the National Guard is a show of force, not a safety measure.
Senior Grace Khuzami said seeing the National Guard in Union Station felt eerie. “I’ve been to Union Station thousands of times and never really felt unsafe there,” Khuzami said. “They were taking photos of the main entrance of Union station, and that was really scary to see,” Khuzami said. “I felt like I was being watched.”
D.C. has had home rule since 1973; home rule gives D.C. residents the right to elect their own mayor and council. The council, though it can pass laws, is still overseen by Congress. The president, under the Home Rule Act, is empowered to deploy the D.C. National Guard for up to 30 days. The legality of Trump’s federal takeover has been debated, and on Sept. 4, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued the Trump administration over the deployment. Regardless of the deployment’s legality, the National Guard’s presence shows blatant disrespect to D.C.’s residents and local government.
Sophomore Ben Samuel said the National Guard’s presence made him feel conflicted. “I know they’re there for safety,” Samuel said. “I care a lot about D.C., and it could change the dynamic in the city. It puts people on edge, which could cause some tension.”
We already saw a glimpse of military presence in D.C. in June, when soldiers gathered for the Army’s 250th birthday parade and marched through streets with over 6,000 soldiers and 100 tanks. Many have characterized the parade as a show of power, especially given that it happened on Trump’s 79th birthday.
Trump also deployed the National Guard during protests in L.A. against ICE raids in June—an action widely criticized as federal overreach—even when California Governor Gavin Newsom publicly condemned the deployment. And yet, when his own supporters rioted in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Trump refused to send the National Guard in.
Trump’s selective use of the National Guard undermines the integrity of our democratic institutions. While Trump has pushed the boundaries of his executive power before, his control of the National Guard crosses a particularly dangerous line. For us, as students living and learning in D.C., we now see armed soldiers stationed around our city, making the abstract threat of authoritarianism something we now have to live with daily.
While we may not feel directly threatened by these soldiers, seeing armed troops stationed around our city normalizes using military deployment as a political tool. The military is not meant to be deployed against American citizens in their own communities, especially when crime is at a 30-year low.
Every time you pass by soldiers, understand what they represent: the American government taking a troubling step towards authoritarianism. As students at GDS, a school that teaches us to speak out against injustice and question authority, we are well equipped to witness and respond to this moment. We have an obligation to continue that tradition by acknowledging and speaking out about what is happening in our own city.