Aug. 25, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: National guardsmen are patrolling the streets of our nation’s capital while President Trump threatens to launch similar “emergency” invasions of Chicago, New York and other cities governed by Democrats. Parading up and down the national Mall in military garb, helping ICE agents harass undocumented residents, and tearing down homeless encampments will not lower the D.C. crime rate.
The results of Trump’s federalization of 5,000 California national guardsmen in June to quell demonstrations in Los Angeles are instructive. Two months later the guard units (plus a U.S. Marine detachment) were demobilized. Meanwhile California officials estimate that the ripple effects of arrests, detentions, and deportations of undocumented residents has slashed $275 billion from the state’s economy and causes a $23 billion decline in state revenues. Yet Los Angelinos are no safer today than they were before the national guard deployment.
The only effective way of reducing crime is to address the root cause – the endless cycle of poverty that leaves residents of low-income neighborhoods under-educated, poorly housed and susceptible to crime, both as victims and perpetrators. Trump should be encouraging state and local governments and civic organizations to address the consequences of poverty rather that engaging in political theatrics aimed at convincing American voters that he’s “tough on crime.” BOB GETTINGS Lexington
