“Always ready. Always there.” That’s the motto of the National Guard of the United States of America. They must always be prepared in order to help local communities in the event of a natural disaster or civil disturbance. But we never asked for their assistance, our governors never asked for their assistance. In fact, there was never an apparent issue to begin with.
No, this had nothing to do with concern for the safety of local communities or diminishing crime rates. This event was an act of oppression and fear motivation, disguised as a good deed. And the orders came from no place other than from the top, our president. Also, this is unusual in and of itself because when the National Guard is called, it’s because that state’s governor is crying out for help. It means that their situation was so severe that they needed to call the military for help because they couldn’t manage it on their own. Nothing of the sort was happening in California.
June 2025 – Los Angeles, California
In June of 2025, Donald Trump deployed 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles, California, because he couldn’t handle Californians protesting his racially targeted ICE raids. Americans were shocked across the country while protesters continued to push on. In fact, this event was so unprecedented that there was no code or any type of protocol for this event whatsoever. So, our military just stood there, literally not knowing what to do. I mean, they didn’t ask to be there; they were ordered. They were ordered to fight and protect against our own American citizens.
Brielle Vassel (11), shared her thoughts on if the National Guard should have been deployed during the ICE protests in Los Angeles.
“As long as the protests are peaceful, there is no need for the guard. Even if parts got violent, as long as it isn’t too big, the police should be able to handle it,” Vassel said.
This act is a clear example of the suppression of our fundamental right to freedom of speech. It’s a demonstration of power. We can’t have outspoken opinions that disagree with those of the president because each and every time we will be brought down. We will be controlled because, right now, we live in a country not unlike that of a dictatorship. Even though we have the right to protest. Even though we have the right to bring up issues to the president that we don’t think are being addressed. It’s in our constitution.
Vassel also explained if our Americans rights were violated during this demonstration.
But the issue with that is our problem starts from the president. Our president is ripping our country apart from the inside out and turning us against each other. We don’t know true from false, up from down, and even right from wrong because we’re confused. American people are getting lost in the chaos of it all. And most importantly, he’s scrubbing away the parts of America he thinks are unclean and throwing us away like trash.
August 2025 – Washington, D.C.
In August of 2025, about 800 members of the D.C. National Guard were activated and 700 troops were sent from multiple different Republican states, all because Trump wanted to reduce crime rates. In fact the situation was so “dire” that he signed an executive order that declared Washington D.C. in the state of a “crime emergency.” He also took federal control of the city’s police department.
Alix Jones (9) expressed his thoughts on how Trump’s federal control of Washington D.C.’s police department will affect our country in the long run.
“I’ve had my suspicions that he has been controlling the police department more than necessary,” Jones said. “I believe this can and most likely will have a very dangerous outcome that will affect mainly the citizens. This decision that Trump has made deeply worries me and to put it bluntly, makes me feel completely unsafe in this country.”
Again, our president went to measures not unlike those of an authoritarian or totalitarian. And we as citizens could do nothing about it. We have to stand by and watch as military enforcement is placed on every corner, watching our every move, and inciting fear in the hearts of everyday Americans. Our president is abusing his power to control us, especially those who speak out in opposition against him, and he’s getting away with it. His tyranny is continuing to spread across every state, and I wonder what our country would look like then? President unchecked. Americans silenced.
And this is all to what end? To further his misguided agenda that he’s crushing crime and “making our cities great again” because Washington D.C. does not have a serious crime problem. In actuality, according to multiple sources such as PBS, The New York Times, and NBC4 Washington, violent crime significantly dropped in 2024 compared to 2023. Also, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) reported that violent crime was down 25-28% in the middle of 2025. The Department of Justice said that violent crime was at a 30-year-low in early 2025 as well.
September 2025 – Baltimore, Maryland, Portland, Oregon, & Chicago, Illinois
In September of 2025, all three of these Democratic states fought to have the National Guard not be deployed into their states. So as of mid-September, 2025, there was only political discussion made by Donald Trump that the National Guard would be deployed to these states to “combat crime.”
Maryland Governor Wes Moore and Baltimore officials stated that they did not want or need the National Guard and that the president’s plan ignored the progress they had already made in reducing crime rates.
In Oregon, their House of Representatives actually took legislative action in June of 2025 to limit the federal government’s ability to deploy the National Guard to their state without the consent of the governor.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, also publicly stated that they didn’t want or need the National Guard in their state. As a matter of a fact, there was so much of a debate to not bring the National Guard into their state that there was almost what could be called a “civil war” in Chicago.
September 2025 – Memphis, Tennessee
On Sept. 15, Donald Trump signed an executive order to send the National Guard to Memphis, Tennessee. And this was following his failure to send soldiers to Chicago. This deployment speaks volumes because this is the first Republican state that the National Guard has been sent to by the president. It makes you think that now after Trump has got his way with sending troops to Democratic states, he now wants to push the limits into uncharted territory. This act is also unexpected and it makes me think that he wants to see how far he can go with policing a state that voted for him.
Yet, other than from my earlier inferrations, I was still mostly confused on why the National Guard was sent to this state in particular because there are multiple Republican states with high crime compared to other states. But when I read up on the racial analytics of Memphis, Tennessee, I got my answer. According to several sources like the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Data USA, and World Population Review, in 2022, Memphis became the largest majority Black city in the United States. In fact, in 2023, 62.7% of the population of Memphis was Black.
So now the puzzle pieces are fitting into place, and I now have new beliefs on why the National Guard was sent to this Republican state before the countless other options that could have been chosen. Moreover, our president is someone of the Republican Party, so it comes easily to him to elevate himself, and his race, above all others. And he looks down on others for simply having a different skin tone from him, and continues to shamelessly discriminate against people of color. So, it’s no wonder why he would think crime runs rampant in Memphis.
???? – St. Louis, Missouri
When Trump was asked on Sept. 15, if sending the National Guard to St. Louis was on the table, he responded by saying, “Yeah, we got to save St. Louis. We’ve gotta save these cities.” Now this is alarming because it makes us think, “What if we’re next?” So now our fellow Missourians and our governor are sitting on their toes waiting to see if active-duty military officers will be sent to police our streets.
Jones also shared what he thought the likelihood was of the National Guard being deployed to St. Louis next.
“It would make sense for where they have been sending them to,” Jones said. “However, I feel that it would be unnecessary. Sending the National Guard would only waste their time, and would not be beneficial to the situation at hand.”
I mean, it’s easy to see or even write about the National Guard being sent to other states but now this is in our own backyard. This is our state, where most of us were born and raised. And now we’re being questioned. Now, I’m not saying this to scare Missourians, but this is just unfortunately our reality. It’s also our reality that people think St. Louis is littered with gang violence and is just overall a place too dangerous to live in. But while we might have high crime compared to other states, it’s not nearly as bad as what we’re stereotyped to be like.
For example, according to the City of St. Louis and Council of Criminal Justice, overall crime in St. Louis has dropped significantly over the past decade. Furthermore, in the early months of 2025, homicides were down 45% compared to 2024, which is the lowest point it has seen in 20 years. Additionally, violent crime rates in early 2025 and 2024, were as low as levels seen in 2014, which was a period of historic lows for national homicide rates.
Lastly, Jones provided insight into how we, as everyday Americans, can still continue forward as a country and move towards progression. And we can do this by pushing back against the status quo and making a difference, no matter how big or small it might be.
“I hope in the future, our country will be able to undo our actions,” Jones said. “But right now, we live in a time that is changing rapidly, which can have very negative situations arise. In this age, we need to mainly focus on the positives, and become the positivity if there are only negatives. If we take it one day at a time, we can become something great, even if it just affects even just a small piece of the world, or even just our own town.”
