Tag Archives: National Guard

Biden orders 500 more active-duty troops to North Carolina bringing total to nearly 1,500

Susan Walsh, Associated Press President Biden Oct. 4, 2024.

Important Takeaways:

  • The White House said there are additionally more than 6,100 National Guard members and more than 7,000 federal personnel aiding in the effort.
  • “These Guardsmen have been spearheading the response effort across the impacted region in support of their governors and communities, providing critical life-saving and life-sustaining support to the victims of this historic natural disaster,” the Defense Department press release read.
  • The announcement, according to the White House and Defense Department, comes in response to requests from North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) and from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for additional troops.
  • “The Department of Defense will continue to stay fully engaged with FEMA and the whole-of-government relief efforts related to Hurricane Helene, providing capabilities that best support needs on the ground,” the Defense Department press release said.
  • The Biden administration pointed to the $137 million in federal assistance that it has directed to help “survivors jumpstart their recoveries” and said there is “more to come.”
  • The administration touted its on-the-ground efforts and collaboration with local officials, noting that in the past several days, the Biden administration “has contacted nearly 450 state, city, and county officials in impacted states to ensure they have the support and resources they need.”
  • The administration is also encouraging local residents to apply for FEMA assistance, and it has set up a website to combat misinformation surrounding the federal government’s response efforts.

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Riot charges against 200 migrants who stormed border and assaulted Texas troops dismissed by judge

migrants-battle-Texas-national-guard

Important Takeaways:

  • Rioting charges against 211 illegal migrants caught on video by The Post pushing past Texas troops and attempting to break into the US on March 21 have all been dismissed — based on a technicality
  • El Paso County Judge Ruben Morales dismissed the cases at a hearing Wednesday, May 8, saying his “hands [are] tied” after the state did not provide a required transfer order, a simple document, to move the matter from district to county court
  • The migrants were all arrested by Texas authorities on riot-related charges after the rush at an area known as Gate 36, as seen in the shocking footage captured by The Post.
  • The riot charges carried a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and up to a $2,000 fine.
  • The migrants were mostly adult males who severely outnumbered the guardsmen, who had been trying to place them into groups so they could be taken into CBP custody.
  • Nine migrants were later singled out as the “ringleaders” of the stampede and eight of them are in custody facing additional felony charges, which are being heard separately from the riot charges.

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Senators Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton urge President to mobilize National Guard to protect Jewish students

NYPD-Officers-stand-guard

Important Takeaways:

  • Josh Hawley and Tom Cotton called on President Biden to mobilize the National Guard to protect Jewish American college students in response to anti-Israel, pro-terrorist demonstrations on campuses.
  • Hawley, Missouri Republican, wrote in a letter sent to Mr. Biden Monday:
    • “On college campuses across the United States, Jewish Americans are at risk. … In your statement on Passover, you stated that ‘in recent days, we’ve seen harassment and calls for violence against Jews. This blatant antisemitism is reprehensible and dangerous — and it has absolutely no place on college campuses, or anywhere in our country.’ Now you must take action to match those words.”
    • He continued, “You must immediately mobilize the National Guard and any other authorities necessary to ensure the safety of Jewish American students and citizens.”
  • Cotton, Arkansas Republican, said on X that the “nascent pogroms at Columbia have to stop.”
  • Referring to the mayor and governor, Mr. Cotton added, “If Eric Adams won’t send the NYPD and Kathy Hochul won’t send the National Guard, Joe Biden has a duty to take charge and break up these mobs.”
  • On Sunday, Rabbi Elie Buechler, the director of the university’s Orthodox Union-Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus, said those authorities “cannot guarantee Jewish students’ safety” and recommended that Jewish students “return home as soon as possible.”
  • The following day, on Passover, Columbia University President Minouche Shafik canceled in-person classes, citing “too many examples of intimidating and harassing behavior on our campus.”

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National Guard and State Troopers in NYC subways as they tell us crime rates have dropped: What are they not telling us?

National Guard-NYC-Subway

Important Takeaways:

  • New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans Wednesday to send the National Guard to the New York City subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.
  • Hochul, a Democrat, said she will deploy 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist the New York Police Department with bag checks at entrances to busy train stations.
  • The move came as part of a larger effort from the governor’s office to address crime in the subway. She also floated a legislative proposal to ban people from trains for three years if they are convicted of assaulting a subway passenger and said officials would install cameras in conductor cabins to protect transit workers.
  • The governor said she will also send 250 state troopers and police officers from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, to help with the bag searches.
  • Overall, crime has dropped in New York City since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and killings are down on the subway system. But rare fatal shootings and shoving’s on the subway can put residents on edge. Just last week, a passenger slashed a subway conductor in the neck, delaying trains.

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Iowa Governor deployed more than 100 National Guard soldiers to assist at the U.S.-Mexico border

Important Takeaways:

  • Kim Reynolds deployed more than 100 Iowa National Guard soldiers to Texas on Wednesday to assist at the U.S.-Mexico border for the next month.
  • And she says she’ll use the Biden Administration’s COVID-19 relief funds to pay for it.
  • The 109 soldiers are tasked with “deterring illegal border crossings and preventing the trafficking of illegal substances by cartels through Texas,”
  • She was one of at least half a dozen Republican governors around the country to send personnel to the border to support “Operation Lone Star.”
  • Reynolds has been a constant critic of President Joe Biden’s handling of immigration and said Wednesday that he has “failed the American people.”

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National Guard sent to help with water distribution crisis across Mississippi capital

Revelations 18:23 ‘For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • Jackson water crisis deepens as state deploys National Guard
  • 600 National Guard troops at mass water distribution sites across the Mississippi capital as workers struggled to repair beleaguered plant pumps that have left many without reliable running water for weeks, with no end in sight.
  • State officials opened seven mass water distribution sites
  • Officials told reporters the locations would be supplied by 108 trucks for the next few days, enough water for the city’s 150,000 residents, plus 30,000 out-of-town workers.
  • The city has been under a boil-water notice since late July due to what the state called quality issues, and the water plant has been plagued by problems in recent years including staff shortages, failed environmental inspections, a freeze and a fire.

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Utah Newspaper suggests using National Guard against the unvaxed

Luke 21:11 There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.

Important Takeaways:

  • America’s Military Should be used to Oppress The Unvaxed, Says Leading Utah Newspaper.
  • The Salt Lake Tribune proposes deploying the National Guard, a reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces, to “ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere”:
    • “We might have headed off omicron with a herd immunity-level of vaccinations, but that would have required a vaccination mandate, which our leaders refused. Instead, we get, “No one could have seen this coming.” That is patently untrue. They were told what to do, and they refused.
    • Were Utah a truly civilized place, the governor’s next move would be to find a way to mandate the kind of mass vaccination campaign we should have launched a year ago, going as far as to deploy the National Guard to ensure that people without proof of vaccination would not be allowed, well, anywhere.

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100 National Guard troops available for Saturday’s Capitol demonstration security -Pentagon

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has put 100 National Guard troops on standby to help police protect the Capitol if needed, the Pentagon said on Friday, ahead of Saturday’s planned rally supporting people charged with taking part in the deadly Jan. 6 riot.

Hundreds of far-right demonstrators are expected in the District of Columbia for the “Justice For J6” rally, a reference to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump in an attempt to stop certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory.

A Pentagon spokesman said the request had been made by the Capitol police and the troops would be based out of the D.C. Armory.

They would be used after local, state and federal law enforcement capabilities had been tapped, the spokesman said.

“The task force will only be deployed upon request of the Capitol Police to help protect the U.S. Capitol Building and Congressional Office buildings by manning building entry points and verifying credentials of individuals seeking access to the building,” the spokesman said.

Police have ramped up security around the Capitol, mindful of the rioters on Jan. 6 who attacked police, smashed windows and climbed into the building, sending lawmakers and then-Vice President Mike Pence running for safety.

Workers have reassembled a fence that was put up around the white-domed Capitol following that day but was taken down in July.

The fencing separated the lawns of the Capitol grounds from other government landmarks including the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, congressional office buildings and the Capitol Reflecting Pool just west of Capitol Hill, where protesters were scheduled to gather on Saturday.

Travelers arriving at the airport nearest Washington, D.C., will face increased security in the run-up to the rally, the Transportation Security Administration has said.

Police and congressional leaders have said they are prepared for Saturday’s protest. Most members of Congress will be out of town.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Franklin Paul and Dan Grebler)

Capitol Police ask National Guard to stay for two more months: defense official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Capitol Police have asked the Pentagon to extend the National Guard’s mission to protect the U.S. Capitol for an additional two months, a defense official told Reuters on Thursday.

National Guard troops were dispatched to the Capitol grounds after the Jan. 6 attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump, and tall fencing has been erected to extend the security perimeter.

There are currently about 5,200 National Guard troops around the building. The mission was set to end on March 12.

“We should have them here as long as they are needed,” House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference.

She also said retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honoré has submitted draft recommendations for long-term security improvements to the Capitol complex.

She did not provide details but said Congress will have to review them and make decisions “about what is feasible.” Congress would have to approve emergency funding to implement such plans, she said.

The defense official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Capitol Police’s request had been received by the Pentagon and would be examined, and said it was highly likely that it would be approved.

Security around the Capitol was tight on Thursday after police warned that a militia group might try to attack it to mark a key date on the calendar of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

A bulletin issued on Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said an unidentified group of “militia violent extremists” discussed plans in February to “take control of the U.S. Capitol and remove Democratic lawmakers on or about March 4.”

March 4 is the day when QAnon adherents believe that Trump, who was defeated by President Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election, will be sworn in for a second term in office. Up until 1933, March 4 was the date of the inauguration.

The Capitol Police, a force of about 2,300 officers and civilian employees, is responsible for protecting the Capitol grounds, lawmakers, visitors and those working there. The National Guard in Washington, D.C., is under the control of the Pentagon, an unusual arrangement as the 50 states have authority over their own National Guard.

Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department, which also responded on Jan. 6, is under the control of the city government.

Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin said that she had heard about a 60-day extension request and that the National Guard was asking states for troop contributions.

“No one likes seeing the fortress-like security around the Capitol. And no one wants to again have a security problem in and around this symbolic place,” Slotkin said on Twitter.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sonya Hepinstall)

Explainer: Can Trump call in troops to quell Election Day unrest?

By Jan Wolfe

(Reuters) – There have been pockets of unrest in battleground states ahead of the showdown between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in Tuesday’s election.

On Saturday, peaceful participants at a rally in North Carolina to turn out the vote were pepper-sprayed by law enforcement officials. The Biden campaign canceled two events after a caravan of vehicles with Trump campaign flags swarmed a bus carrying campaign workers in Texas on Friday.

Trump, who previously declined to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he decides Tuesday’s election results are fraudulent, could bring in the military or federal agents to quell civil unrest on Election Day.

Here is a look at the laws that give Trump authority in this area, and the limitations on his power.

WHAT IS THE INSURRECTION ACT?

Under the U.S. Constitution, governors of U.S. states have primary authority to maintain order within state borders. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act bars the federal military from participating in domestic law enforcement.

The Insurrection Act, an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act dating back to 1807, permits the president to send in U.S. forces to suppress a domestic insurrection.

The Insurrection Act has been invoked dozens of times in U.S. history, but rarely since the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

It was last invoked in 1992 by President George H.W. Bush when the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of Black motorist Rodney King led to deadly riots. California’s governor supported Bush’s use of the law.

The act gives a president “awesome powers” and should be used as a last resort, said retired Army Major General John Altenburg, now a Washington lawyer.

DID TRUMP INVOKE THE ACT IN RESPONSE TO THIS YEAR’S ANTI-RACISM PROTESTS?

Trump considered invoking the act in response to violence and looting at mostly peaceful anti-racism protests in June. Trump dropped the idea after public pushback from Defense Secretary Mark Esper.

Instead, Trump sent U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents to cities like Washington and Portland, Oregon.

Those agents had military-style equipment but they were civilians and not members of the armed forces.

In the event of unrest on Election Day on Tuesday or in the ensuing days, Trump is more likely to activate those federal agents than the military, said Jimmy Gurulé, a University of Notre Dame law professor and former Justice Department official.

To do so, Trump would need to cite some violation of federal law that the agents are policing against. The DHS agents sent to Portland earlier this year were charged with enforcing a law against vandalizing federal property like courthouses.

CAN TRUMP ACTIVATE THE NATIONAL GUARD?

Yes, the U.S. government could activate, or “federalize,” the Army National Guard, a reserve force of part-time soldiers. Those civilian soldiers are usually activated by governors, but federal law also allows the U.S. government to mobilize them.

Once federalized, National Guard soldiers are under the full command and control of the defense secretary until they are returned to state status.

This year, many state governors have activated the National Guard to respond to the coronavirus pandemic and support local law enforcement in quelling disturbances.

SO TRUMP NEED NOT HAVE A GOVERNOR’S APPROVAL FOR SENDING IN TROOPS?

Right. Under the Insurrection Act, if a president determines that a rebellion has made it “impracticable” to enforce U.S. law through ordinary judicial proceedings, he may activate the armed forces without a governor’s approval “to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion.”

Historically, presidents and governors have generally agreed on the need for troops.

Trump can activate DHS agents, who are federal government employees, or the National Guard, without state approval.

There are limits, however, on the president’s power. Federal law makes it illegal for the military or other federal agents to interfere with an election. Deploying the military or DHS to polling places is illegal, for example.

CAN A COURT BLOCK A PRESIDENT’S USE OF FORCE?

Yes, but courts have historically been reluctant to second-guess a president’s military declarations, said Robert Chesney, a law professor at the University of Texas.

“When a president claims that the facts on the ground warrant invocation of the Insurrection Act, courts ordinarily would not second-guess this,” Chesney said. Judges, however, could break with precedent if they believed Trump had relied on false claims to justify the use of force, he said.

If Trump sends in DHS or other federal agents, they must respect the constitutional rights of civilians. Advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union accused the agents in Portland of making arrests that violated the constitutional rights of protesters and journalists.

But the Trump administration had the lawful authority to use the agents, legal experts said.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller and Peter Cooney)