It’s hard to grasp.  The City of Chicago is nothing less than a killing field.  People are being murdered daily.  Violent crime is completely out of control.  Fox News reported “days after President Trump warned he would send the National Guard to Chicago, police said at least five people were fatally shot and 35 others wounded over the Labor Day weekend.” (Fox News, 8-31-2025).  There has been more since then.

Yet, Chicago’s Democrat city and state officials continue to insist Chicago does not need Trump’s help to tackle the violence that has so long plagued it even as the bodies continue to pile up.  Now, President Trump has made clear he is going to get crime under control in Chicago if its leaders don’t do so immediately.

I believe strongly in the primacy of the 10th Amendment, which reserves to the states and to the people all rights not expressly granted to the federal government and enumerated in the Constitution.  In fact, the very purpose of a state’s inherent police powers is to protect the health, safety, and welfare of its citizens.  However, the citizens of Chicago, Illinois (and every other city and state in the U.S., including Louisiana) are also American citizens and if they are being harmed and killed, a president must act.

So, what can be done?

Well, the legal authority for a president to send troops to a city like Chicago is based upon the Insurrection Act of 1807.  The act provides a crucial exception to the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally prohibits the use of federal military forces for domestic law enforcement.  The Insurrection Act authorizes the president to deploy military forces inside the United States to suppress rebellion or domestic violence.

So, a president can request that a governor deploy their state Guard, but a governor can refuse.  To override a governor, the president must invoke the Insurrection Act, federalizing the Guard.

The Insurrection Act gives the president three paths for a domestic military deployment: 1). a state requesting a president to send in troops to suppress an insurrection; 2). to enforce federal law; and 3). to protect constitutional rights, especially, as here, when state authorities cannot or will not protect those rights.

I believe the strongest of the three is the third, involving the deprivation of constitutional rights.  It is hard to imagine a more graphic or blatant example of the denial of due process of law—including the right to life and liberty—than the injury to or murder of an innocent civilian in the streets of our cities.

The Wall Street Journal described the broad rationale for Trump’s actions: “Earlier this month, President Trump announced a federal takeover of law enforcement in the District of Columbia, citing its persistently elevated violent crime rate. National Guard troops were deployed to the capital to support the police, and Mr. Trump has indicated that Chicago and other urban areas may be next.  On Monday, he also signed an executive order aimed at forcing cities to end the use of cashless bail, which allows suspects to be released from custody without putting up money to ensure that they’ll show up at trial. Most violent crime is committed by previous offenders and limiting (the ability of) judges and prosecutors to detain suspects until their court dates can make streets less safe.”  (WSJ, Jason L. Riley, Aug. 26, 2025).

I cannot comprehend how Democrat leaders think it’s a good strategy to oppose President Trump’s effort to fight crime.  I think residents of even the most liberal cities in our country seek safety, especially typical Americans who don’t have armed guards or high walls to protect them and must think of their and their family’s personal safety, and fear for their lives, every time they traverse their neighborhoods.  (Or simply be at home when a stray bullet comes through the wall or door of their home, killing a family member, as happens often). As Breitbart News stated, “any mayor or governor who has over 40 of his own residents shot and/or killed on a Labor Day Weekend and refuses law enforcement support is placing politics over the safety of his own people.”

I don’t understand this but am grateful President Trump proposes to make that previously great American city safe again.  Without law enforcement there is no law, and without law there is no civilization. (Rep. T. McClintock).