By April Ryan
Amid the fight over potentially placing the National Guard in cities with diverse populations where Black mayors lead, the governors have the right to request the deployment of the National Guard.
According to the U.S. Code, Title 32, governors are the commanders-in-chief of the state or territory’s militia. Maryland Governor Wes Moore reinforced this by saying, “I am the commander-in-chief!” Maryland’s first Black governor said he would only allow presidential National Guard deployment if it is “mission critical” and “mission aligned.”
Chicago’s Governor, J.B. Pritzker, also resounded “no” to President Trump’s threats to deploy the National Guard in Chicago. Title 32 states that Guard members are under the governor’s command, but the federal government funds their duties. However, in this moment of struggle for who controls National Guard deployment, there are concerns about National Guard funding.
Meanwhile, under Title 10, a president can call up the National Guard and put them under federal control, but this is typically done only in specific circumstances, such as suppressing rebellions. Washington, DC, which is not a state, is under a presidential dictate for the gun-toting National Guard that is policing and cleaning up trash off the city streets. Trump’s Justice Department now controls the D.C. police, as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser says the police chief reports to her. On the West Coast, in Los Angeles, in June, President Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to anti immigration protests. “This is the federal seizure of power,” according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who emphasizes that the Trump administration has federalized the National Guard, which has seized power from California Governor Gavin Newsom. She says the administration has “taken his ability to manage the National Guard.” “The LAPD is definitely not in charge. The first Black woman mayor of the city told this reporter on the Substack show, The Tea With April. However, ICE, the National Guard, Border Patrol, and the Marines “blend together” policing and arresting Mexicans, Koreans, Iranians, and Haitians in that city. The city of Los Angeles has 3.8 million people, and almost half the residents are Latino, the majority from Mexico.
Los Angeles, a city with a large minority population, has “parts of Los Angeles that are empty because people can’t go to work.” Bass says, “entire industries in the city of Los Angeles are totally dependent on migrant labor, like the garment district, ethnic restaurants, construction for the housing to rebuild after the fires in the area earlier this year.” The mayor reminds that there has been an instance when the public sees these arrests, some residents perceive it as “kidnappings.” The mayor says there was a “bit of a confrontation with the public, ICE, and the LAPD.
Bass says, “It’s a mess.”
