Former President Barack Obama wrote on X on Aug. 28 that the growing use of the military and federal law enforcement in American cities puts “the liberties of all Americans at risk,” as President Trump weighed sending National Guard troops to Chicago and other cities.
Former President Barack Obama on Thursday, Aug. 28, criticized the growing use of the military and federal law enforcement in American cities, writing on social media that the trend puts “the liberties of all Americans at risk.” His comments came as President Donald Trump weighed sending National Guard troops to Chicago and other Democratic-led cities after deploying them in Washington, D.C.
Obama has generally avoided frequent public criticism of his successors since leaving office, though he has spoken out on a few issues this year. His latest remarks were brief and came in posts on X rather than in a speech or formal statement.
What Obama wrote
In his post, Obama shared an episode of “The Ezra Klein Show,” a New York Times interview program, in which host Ezra Klein spoke with journalist Radley Balko, author of the book “Rise of the Warrior Cop,” about the federal role in policing.
Obama wrote that the interview, “which is also available as a podcast, provides a useful overview of some of the dangerous trends we’ve been seeing in recent months regarding federalization and militarization of state and local police functions,” according to Fox News.
He added that “the erosion of basic principles like due process and the expanding use of our military on domestic soil” should be a bipartisan worry, saying such developments “put the liberties of all Americans at risk and should concern Democrats and Republicans alike.”
Obama did not mention Trump by name in the excerpts reported by news outlets, but the posts were widely read as a response to the administration’s recent actions in Washington and its threats to expand them.
The deployments behind the debate
Earlier in August, Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., took temporary control of the city’s Metropolitan Police Department under a provision of the Home Rule Act, and ordered the D.C. National Guard onto the city’s streets. Several Republican-led states sent their own Guard members, bringing the total to roughly 2,000 troops, according to Stars and Stripes. The Pentagon later said some of the Guard members in the capital had begun carrying firearms.
Trump has said the deployment has made Washington safer. City police data cited by news outlets shows violent crime in the District was already down compared with last year before the federal surge began.
On Aug. 25, Trump signed an executive order directing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to make sure each state’s National Guard has units trained and ready to be mobilized quickly to deal with public order problems. The president has also said he is considering sending troops to Chicago, telling reporters, “We may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do.” He has named Baltimore and New York as other possible targets.
Democratic leaders in those places have pushed back. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said there is no emergency in Chicago that would justify sending in the Guard or the military, and called Trump’s threat “a test of the limits of his power.”
White House response
The White House rejected Obama’s criticism. In a statement to Fox News Digital, spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “Barack Hussein Obama has no room to talk after he weaponized his government against conservatives and his political opponents, notably President Trump by fueling the Russia hoax.” She added, “President Trump is restoring integrity to all aspects of our government.”
The legal questions
The use of troops for domestic policing is limited by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally bars the federal military from acting as a law enforcement force. The rules differ depending on whether Guard members are under a governor’s command or federal control, and Washington, D.C., is a special case because its Guard reports to the president.
Those questions are already in court. California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued the administration over the federalization of thousands of California Guard members and the deployment of hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles during immigration protests in June. That case was still pending in federal court as of late August.
What comes next
The debate over sending troops into more cities is likely to continue as Trump decides whether to act in Chicago or elsewhere. Supporters of the deployments, including many Republican lawmakers, argue that federal help is needed to reduce violent crime. Opponents, including Democratic governors and mayors and now Obama, argue that crime is better handled by local police and that using the military at home sets a troubling precedent.
Obama’s posts do not change any policy, but they add the voice of a former president to the argument over how far federal power should reach into local law enforcement.
Source: Yahoo News
