Trump eyes National Guard expansion into New York, Chicago
The president has already moved the DC’s Police Department under federal control and ordered about 2,000 troops to patrol the nation’s capital
[NEW YORK] US President Donald Trump said on Friday (Aug 22) that he’s preparing to expand federal deployments of the National Guard beyond Washington, DC, with Chicago and New York among the cities under review.
The president has already moved the DC’s Police Department under federal control and ordered about 2,000 troops to patrol the nation’s capital. In the Oval Office on Friday, he said that his next steps could involve other large, Democratic-led cities he has repeatedly criticised for crime and mismanagement.
“Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor, grossly incompetent. And we will straighten that one out. Probably next,” Trump said. “And then we will help with New York.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson criticised the idea, warning it would inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement and undermine progress made in tackling crime. The city, which suffered under rising crime in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, has recently seen improvements with murders falling 32 per cent to 188 in the first half of the year, the lowest in more than a decade.
“The problem with the president’s approach is that it is uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound, Johnson said. He previously had slammed the administration for the cuts the administration had made to anti-violence programmes.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker also slammed the idea, making a similar point to Johnson about declining crime rates in Chicago and raising concerns over Trump’s abuse of power.
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“After using Los Angeles and Washington, DC as his testing ground for authoritarian overreach, Trump is now openly flirting with the idea of taking over other states and cities,” Pritzker said. “Trump’s goal is to incite fear in our communities and destabilise existing public safety efforts – all to create a justification to further abuse his power.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat now running for re-election as an independent, said last week that he’s also opposed to the idea with “just three simple words: We got this”. Republican mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa said at a campaign stop in Midtown on Friday that while many voters he met supported the federal presence in Washington, “there is no need for the president to take over New York”.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that 719 arrests and 91 firearms have been logged in Washington since Trump’s order. District police separately reported that the city has not recorded a murder since Aug 13, two days after the start of the federal operation.
The comments came after the Pentagon authorised Guard troops in Washington to carry their service weapons, reversing earlier Army guidance that had restricted firearms to armouries. BLOOMBERG
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