As federal troops continue to be deployed in cities with democratic mayors in democratic states (these cities, including Portland, Oregon, Chicago, Illinois, and Los Angeles, California), residents across the country, including here in Powell, are grappling with the implications of what many are calling a constitutional crisis.

President Donald Trump has invoked 10 U.S. Code § 12406, a statute that permits the deployment of the National Guard but only in cases of rebellion or invasion. But the justification many Republicans are using of “rising crime” is a gross exaggeration and is unsupported by current data. It has been done with the approval of Congress, violating the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. The Posse Comitatus Act restricts federal military involvement in domestic law enforcement. 

However, National Guard troops under federal control (Title 10) are subject to this restriction unless Congress authorizes their law enforcement role. The legality hinges on whether their duties constitute law enforcement. 

Governors like Tina Kotek of Oregon and Gavin Newsom of California have both publicly said that they criticized the deployments, stating that crime rates in their cities do not require military help. 

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, crime in L.A. has actually declined significantly recently: Homicides are down 28% in 2025 compared to 2020-2024, and property crime dropped 6.7% last year. 

In Portland, according to the Portland Police Bureau, the numbers are even more dramatic. Homicides fell 51% from this time last year, aggravated assaults dropped 18%, robberies declined 10%, and sexual assaults decreased by 12%.

In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order barring city agencies from cooperating with federal military enforcement. Naturally, protests have begun across the Windy City, with residents expressing their opinions through peaceful demonstrations and legal challenges.

Even though Powell is hundreds of miles away from all of these cities, residents still share opinions felt locally about these deployments, especially in a community known for its strong support of President Trump.

“I think it can be really effective as long as it’s done properly in conjunction with local law enforcement,” Marine Corps and Army veteran and high school para-educator Mr. Tim Heine said. “The National Guard is the state militia, so having them in a big city where crime rates are higher makes sense,  if local police can’t handle it.”

While the National Guard troops technically can’t do anything in these cities, except for Memphis, Tennessee, because they do have state approval, and Portland, because the court ruling is under review as of Oct. 31, 2025, Mr. Heine still expressed concern about the treatment of service members.

 “It’s heartbreaking to see our brothers and sisters in arms get treated poorly,” Mr. Heine said. “They’re not the ones causing harm.”

While no official statement has been released about the harassment of soldiers in these cities, there have been several credible reports of citizens harassing the National Guard on some occasions. However, it is important to note that pushback was mostly peaceful.  

“I’ve heard from one of those midnight talk show guys that asked people from Portland to send in pictures of their ‘crime-ravaged’ city,”  substitute teacher Mr. Jim Anderson said. “And it was kinda funny because it was just a bunch of pictures of people in the park, people at the mall, people walking down the street, no trash anywhere. And they think even the protests in Portland weren’t bad, the chief of police said he was surprised how small the crowds were, and that nobody was doing so much as flipping ’em off.” 

According to KION, the protests have actually been rather large, but were described as looking more like a street party than a protest, and that inflatable frog costume-clad citizens were the primary form of protest, with signs saying things such as “resist fascism.” 

Mr. Anderson, whose son-in-law served in the Coast Guard, also spoke about the emotional and mental states of the troops being deployed. 

“I think some of [the soldiers] are probably struggling with it; they really don’t see the point,” Anderson said. “They send them up to Portland and, lo and behold, nothing is happening. This whole thing started with [President Trump’s] crackdown on illegal immigration, which targets people here illegally, obviously, but also those who are here legally. Trump has never really explained the scope of the problem, or how bad it is, just that it’s happening and it’s bad.” 

A very common criticism among left-leaning voters is that all of those cities receiving National Guard are democratic, making it very likely it is a political statement. But English teacher Mrs. Ashley O’Neil, who has military-related experience, had a compelling counterpoint to this well-debated topic, even though these cities all have democratic governors and are mostly located in blue states.

“Think about it, even in your red states, the cities are always blue,” Mrs. O’Neil said. “Blue cities are the epicenter of Democratic votes. Cities like Dallas, Austin, and Houston are in a very conservative state, but they are the only little specs of blue, so I don’t think it has to do with being Democratic at all, because your big cities are the centers of crime and gang violence. I think it has more to do with population.” 

While statistically large cities typically vote blue, one could also make the counterargument about how that’s where most of the people are, so there is bound to be more crime anyway, as Mrs. O’Neil stated. With that being said, no blue cities in any red states have been targeted for crime, and all cities targeted have blue mayors. So it is very probable that higher-crime-rate cities are being targeted because it makes it look like Trump is attacking crime, but in reality, he is going after anyone in those states who disagrees with him, often in connection with immigration, abortion, and political dissent.

Because residents of Powell seem to have very strong and interesting opinions on the deployment of the National Guard in cities nationwide, it is most important that people back up their political views using logic, reason, evidence, and critical thinking, rather than emotionally-centered views, conspiracy theories, and rejection of the truth.