The Trump administration’s effort to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops into one major city after the next has resulted in a multistate court fight.
As the legal battles escalate, here’s what to know about the National Guard.
What is the National Guard?
The National Guard is a state-based military force made up of hundreds of thousands of trained soldiers who are most often activated during natural disasters, wars or civil unrest.
Guard troops typically only serve part time and most hold civilian jobs or attend college.
The National Guard has two parts: the Army Guard and the Air Guard. Each functions as the main reserve force for the associated branch of the military, and troops can be deployed overseas to support military operations abroad, as they did in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The Army Guard is the oldest part of the U.S. military.
Who controls the National Guard?
Both state governors and the president have the power to activate the National Guard. But the president’s decision to do so almost always comes at the request of state or local officials. For example, President George H.W. Bush activated the Guard in 1992 in response to the Rodney King riots following a request from the California governor.
When President Trump deployed the California National Guard to the streets of Los Angeles this summer in response to protests against his immigration crackdown, it was the first time since the civil rights movement in 1965 that a president had summoned a state’s National Guard against the will of a governor.
A federal judge later ruled that the deployment of troops to Los Angeles was illegal, saying Mr. Trump had effectively turned the troops into a “national police force” in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th-century law that generally prohibits the use of federal troops for domestic civilian law enforcement.
Anushka Patil is a Times reporter covering breaking and developing news around the world.
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