Washington leaders have been preparing for months for the possibility of President Donald Trump mobilizing the military against the governor’s wishes, as he did over the weekend in response to protests in California.
Gov. Bob Ferguson called a meeting Tuesday afternoon with the state’s top military official about what’s going on in Los Angeles, where Trump summoned thousands of National Guard troops in response to protests over immigration enforcement. Trump’s move was the first time in 60 years that a president had deployed the National Guard to a state without the governor’s consent.
“It’s deeply disturbing. He’s escalating the situation, it’s resulting in more violence because of the president’s calling in the National Guard over the governor’s objection, and that’s exactly what Donald Trump wants,” Ferguson said Tuesday. “My job as governor is to make sure we’re as prepared as we possibly can be here.”
Trump says this action was necessary to protect U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents and the broader public amid demonstrations that have damaged property. California officials countered that local law enforcement could handle it.
California is suing the administration, which has since also sent Marines to Los Angeles, over the National Guard deployment. State officials there say the president is violating the 10th Amendment that protects state sovereignty.
Trump has cited federal law allowing the president to call out National Guard troops if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” The statute also allows for deployments in the case of foreign invasion or if “the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
Democratic officials across the country worry the situation in Los Angeles could be a test run for similar moves in their states and cities.
Ferguson and Attorney General Nick Brown, both of whom are Democrats, told the Standard on Tuesday that the president’s actions haven’t come as a surprise. In fact, they’ve been playing out this scenario since shortly after they both won election in November.
Trump has previously floated the idea of using the military to curb civil unrest. And, during his first term, National Guard troops from multiple states deployed as part of the federal response to 2020 protests in Washington, D.C.
Brown noted the law the president cites for the California deployment says such orders “shall be issued” by the governor. And the situation in California doesn’t meet any of the three circumstances where a National Guard deployment would be lawful, he said.
“If the facts arose here that were the same as California, it would be illegal,” Brown said.
He didn’t rule out a circumstance where the president could have the state’s consent to deploy the Guard.
“I don’t want to presuppose that we would challenge everything, because it really depends on what the facts are,” he said.
A state Military Department spokesperson agreed it’s hard for the state to plan for the unknown.
“I wish we could see the future and develop concrete plans and tell you what we’re planning for,” Karina Shagren said Tuesday.
Across the country, organizers are planning “No Kings” protests against Trump this Saturday, including in Seattle, Olympia and elsewhere in the state. The protests will coincide with the president’s scheduled military parade in Washington, D.C.
Seattle has a long history of massive street protests that have crossed over from civil disobedience to property destruction and resulted in force from police, including in response to a World Trade Organization conference in 1999 and the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
Brown emphasized he doesn’t want protesters acting out violently and “playing into the hands of the Trump administration.”
“We love to protest here, obviously, which is great, but we have to do it in accordance with our laws,” the attorney general said.
In February, Ferguson’s top aides had debated sending 200 troops from the state’s National Guard to the Canadian border to combat drug trafficking — and get ahead of the president potentially federalizing the Guard.
State Adjutant General Gent Welsh, with whom Ferguson was meeting Tuesday, floated the idea. The Military Department went so far as to draft a letter pitching it from the governor to the Trump administration. But Ferguson ultimately decided not to move forward.
Welsh commands the state’s National Guard, directs the Washington Military Department and serves as the governor’s homeland security advisor.
The governor championed a bill this legislative session to give him authority to limit National Guard troops from other states from entering Washington, after Republican governors offered their troops to support Trump’s immigration crackdown. He signed the bill in April, and it went into effect immediately.
Meanwhile, Ferguson on Friday ordered a handful of state National Guard personnel to assist in the search for Travis Decker, a man accused of killing his three young daughters near Leavenworth.
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