Today, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) sent letters to the governors of Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and South Carolina, in response to reports that they are deploying National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., urging them to reverse their decision.
The letters correct President Trump’s inaccurate claim that there is a crime emergency in D.C., which he used to justify the calling of National Guard troops. The letters further explain that, rather than promoting public safety, the deployment of National Guard troops makes residents feel more unsafe, as tensions rise and fear of intimidation and abuse from National Guard members spread throughout the city. Finally, the letters describe the anti-democratic threat to people’s civil rights and liberties caused by the military interference and its potential waste of millions of taxpayer dollars.
“President Trump’s heedless call for additional National Guard troops to occupy Washington, D.C. risks the safety of both residents and visitors. Such a militarized show of force, in a city that has the lowest violent crime rate in decades, is an anti-democratic and authoritarian measure meant to stoke fear in D.C. residents and undermine their self-governance through democratically-elected, local leaders,” said LDF Director of Strategic Initiatives Jin Hee Lee. “President Trump is undermining public safety and our democracy, with ripple effects that far exceed the District’s borders. State governors have the duty to use their state’s resources responsibly and wisely, consistent with democratic principles and values. We thus urge the governors to live up to the duties of their office and reverse any decision to deploy their National Guard troops to our nation’s capital.”
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Founded in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund (LDF) is the nation’s first civil rights law organization. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the Legal Defense Fund or LDF. Please note that LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights.
