Mayor Karen Bass, shown speaking at a June news conference, says she has been in touch with Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson over President Donald Trump’s threats to deploy National Guard troops to cities to quell crime. She accused the president of not following the rule of law in a news briefing Sept. 2.
Courtesy photo
By Ray Richardson
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES – As the Trump administration vows to send the National Guard or U.S. military into more urban cities across the country to fight crime, Mayor Karen Bass is talking with mayors in targeted cities to express her support and offer insights on dealing with the crisis.
During a roundtable discussion Sept. 2 with local Black media, Bass said she has had conversations with Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
President Trump sent National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., in August in an effort to combat crime in the nation’s capital. Trump has indicated Chicago is next.
“In most major cities, crime rates have gone down,” Bass said. “When the soldiers came here (Los Angeles), they wreaked havoc. We told them we don’t need you. We have an administration that clearly is not following the rule of the law.”
A federal judge ruled on Sept. 2 that Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act when he sent the National Guard and a U.S. Marines battalion into the Los Angeles area in June to enforce his immigration policies. The 19th century statute prohibits the use of U.S. troops for domestic law enforcement. The Trump administration announced the next day it would appeal the ruling.
Bass applauded the ruling by Charles Breyer, a federal judge based in San Francisco, but Breyer’s decision did not require an immediate withdrawal of troops from the Los Angeles area. A spokesperson for Bass’ office said about 300 National Guard personnel have remained in the city and surrounding areas.
Patrols of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to look for suspected undocumented immigrants.
“People are still being chased down at Home Depot stores and car washes,” Bass said of enforcement tactics conducted by ICE agents. “Our only recourse is the courts, and we see how that’s been working for us.”
National Guard troops have remained in Washington, D.C. and after a violent Labor Day weekend in Chicago, where shootings resulted in eight fatalities and at least 50 persons injured, Trump reiterated that he’s sending troops to that city as well but gave no timetable for the deployment.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker told USA Today on Sept. 2 that he and other state officials believe the Texas National Guard is currently being assembled for deployment to Illinois.
Bass has become an outlet for Bowser, Johnson and other mayors who may be on Trump’s target list. When Trump sent troops in June during the immigration protests, Bass said Los Angeles was a “test case” for future deployments in other major cities with large populations of immigrants and people of color.
“When you look at what Trump is doing, the cities he’s targeting all have something in common,” Bass said. “We’re all Black mayors. I am so proud of the way our city has come together. The solidarity I have felt has been unbelievable.”
Bass also has been encouraged by diminishing crime rates in Los Angeles, statistics she hopes will get Trump’s attention and lead him to pull out the remaining National Guard troops in the city. Mayors in several major cities are reporting drops in their crime rate, a trend leaders in those cities hope will entice Trump to re-think his plans to deploy troops.
Data released by the mayor’s office in June indicated that Los Angeles is on pace to have its lowest homicide total in 60 years. As of June 28, the city had 116 homicide incidents compared to 152 at the same period in 2024.
Karren Lane, deputy commissioner of public safety in Los Angeles, cited increased efforts in communities as a key reason for the drop in criminal activity in Los Angeles.
“We were able to hire more than 100 community intervention workers and case workers and give them higher salaries,” Lane said during the Black media roundtable. “These new staff members have helped us do more monitoring of social media and do rumor control to keep things from happening. A lot more community engagement has been implemented between (the Los Angeles Police Department) the schools and clergy.”
Whether a similar crime prevention model can work in other major cities, averting a Trump military deployment, remains to be seen.
Bass remained optimistic that the legal victory she and California Gov. Gavin Newsom achieved this week will build momentum to head off further military action on U.S. streets.
“I do hold out hope that the Supreme Court will rule in the right way,” Bass said. “What Trump is doing is so egregious.”
Ray Richardson is a contributing writer for The Wave. He can be reached at rayrich55@gmail.com.
