President Donald Trump ordered the Department of Defense on Monday to formalize the creation of special National Guard units dedicated to internal order tasks, such as "controlling civil unrest."
With the new executive order, the Pentagon will play a more active role in internal security in the District of Columbia and the 50 states, specifically training and equipping National Guard units to handle public order incidents.
The announcement of the measure comes two weeks after Trump decreed federal intervention in Washington D.C. and deployed National Guard troops in the capital due to the high crime rates in the city.
Trump visitó a las tropas federales en la capital la semana pasada. The Pentagon will train special units to guarantee public safety.
According to the statement released by the White House, the presidential decree will increase "interagency collaboration" so that there will be more trained personnel capable of restoring order to the cities and fulfilling its "constitutional obligation to make D.C. safe and beautiful again."
In another decree, the Republican leader instructed the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, to train a special National Guard unit dedicated to "guaranteeing public safety" in the U.S. capital. This way, there will be a force assigned to enforce federal law in D.C. and another rapid response unit available to be deployed anywhere in the country.
There are a total of 2,274 National Guard soldiers currently deployed in the capital (2,274), of whom 934 belong to the capital's unit. The rest come from units in states such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Tropas de la Guardia Nacional desplegadas en D.C. Trump's plan to make major cities safer.
In statements in recent days, the Republican leader has expressed his intention to implement this new security model in cities such as New York, Chicago, and Baltimore, places that are Democratic strongholds and are overwhelmed by crime.
Although National Guard units are under the joint control of state and federal governments, official documents show that the president can federalize the Guard. Trump did so last June when he deployed troops in Los Angeles to neutralize a series of attacks and violent protests by left-wing groups against immigration agents.
The federalization of the National Guard in Los Angeles was carried out despite the opposition of the Democratic leadership that controls the city, which later sued Trump in court. Under the new security scheme signed on Monday, Guard personnel could be activated by the White House without the need for local authorities to request it.
