By Vanguard Staff
WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union is warning of grave constitutional risks as the Trump administration expands its deployment of federal law enforcement and out-of-state National Guard troops into Washington, D.C.
Over the weekend, President Donald Trump announced that state National Guard troops would be called in to the capital. The governors of West Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina confirmed they are sending hundreds of troops to D.C., in addition to the 800 D.C. National Guard members Trump had already activated.
The Wall Street Journal reported the troops may soon be ordered “to start carrying weapons in the coming days.” National Guard troops are not typically trained in local policing or de-escalation and are not authorized to carry out federal immigration enforcement.
Trump has also ordered FBI personnel and other federal officers, who similarly lack local policing experience, to patrol city streets. Earlier this year, Trump said he would let police “do whatever the hell they want,” raising fears of unchecked civil rights abuses against Black, Brown, and unhoused residents.
“Through his manufactured emergency, President Trump is engaging in dangerous political theater to expand his power and sow fear in our communities,” said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU’s National Security Project. “Sending heavily armed federal agents and National Guard troops from hundreds of miles away into our nation’s capital is unnecessary, inflammatory, and puts people’s rights at high risk of being violated.
“Governors need to understand that, with each order, the Trump administration increases legal and ethical jeopardy for state troops being deployed. No matter what uniform they wear, federal agents and military troops are bound by the Constitution, including our rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, due process, and safeguards against unlawful searches and seizures. If troops or federal agents violate our rights, they must be held accountable.”
On Friday, the District of Columbia filed suit to block the administration’s order asserting federal authority over the city’s police department, arguing it violated the Home Rule Act. Following a federal court hearing that afternoon, Attorney General Pam Bondi rescinded her order undermining D.C.’s home rule, allowing the police commissioner to remain in charge of the department.
“The deployment of out-of-state National Guard troops and more federal agents onto D.C. streets is a brazen abuse of power meant to intimidate and create fear in the nation’s capital. This is an unnecessary overstep to micromanage D.C. under a phony emergency, causing real harm to residents and visitors — all to advance the Trump administration’s political agenda,” said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of D.C.
“The ACLU-D.C. will continue to monitor the use of D.C. police and federal law enforcement to ensure that the constitutional rights of our community are protected. We need the nation to join us in the fight for statehood so that D.C. residents are treated like those in every other state and have the same guardrails against federal overreach.”
The ACLU reiterated that all federal officers and military personnel are bound by the U.S. Constitution and warned that violations of D.C. residents’ rights will be challenged in court.
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