Washington Attorney General Brian Schwalb, for his part, has said he considers the military intervention unnecessary and noted that crime in the capital has recently fallen to historic lows. Trump, however, has suggested extending the measure to other major Democratic-run cities, such as Chicago, New York, and again Los Angeles, despite independent reports also showing sustained drops in crime in all three during 2025.
One of the key issues in the dispute is who controls the National Guard. In each state, governors act as commander-in-chief of their troops, while in the District of Columbia that authority falls directly to the president. This legal difference explains why Trump was able to deploy soldiers in the capital without a request. However, if he declares a state of emergency, he can take control of a given state’s National Guard, as he did in Los Angeles in June.
This, in turn, fuels controversy over the scope of the Posse Comitatus Act, which since 1878 has prohibited the Army from performing domestic policing functions. This debate has reached the courts: a California court is currently reviewing arguments over whether sending soldiers to Los Angeles violated the law. The Posse Comitatus Act also reserves public safety to the states, but its wording — as with many ambiguous laws in the U.S. legal system — allows for multiple interpretations. The most concerned critics see in the president’s actions a dangerous precedent for the federal government to begin using troops for local security matters.
In New Mexico, consequently, the official narrative seeks to distance itself from Trump’s order in Washington. In press releases and statements, local authorities have emphasized that the troops deployed in Albuquerque do not patrol in camouflage uniforms or carry weapons, but wear polos, without rifles or authority to make arrests. Their role, they insist, is limited to support tasks: guarding crime scenes, monitoring traffic, and assisting with logistics.
In Washington, the federal government has said something similar, yet the dozens of daily arrests since the troops’ arrival and the presence of tanks and soldiers with automatic rifles on the capital’s streets have heightened tensions that reassuring words are seeking to calm.
Furthermore, while the use of the National Guard in Washington responds to an ostensibly fabricated crime crisis, in New Mexico it responds to a tangible and growing pressure. Rio Arriba County, recently declared in emergency, has the highest overdose death rate in the state, and Albuquerque is facing a surge in youth violence directly linked to fentanyl trafficking.
