Duckworth, Durbin Join Padilla in Leading Push for More Oversight and Accountability Over National Guard Deployments

Duckworth, Durbin Join Padilla in Leading Push for More Oversight and Accountability Over National Guard Deployments

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - As Donald Trump continues threatening to deploy the National Guard into Chicago, U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) joined U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA) in introducing legislation to enhance oversight and accountability of the President's domestic deployment of the National Guard. The Safeguarding the Use of the National Guard (SUN) Act would require the President to submit a comprehensive report to Congress within 15 days of deploying the National Guard for civilian law enforcement support, except in the case of a natural disaster.

"Donald Trump seems determined to deploy our military to police American cities with absolutely zero regard for the lasting impact this will have on readiness, public trust and our national security," said Duckworth. "Our servicemembers did not sign up to intimidate and police their fellow Americans across the country, and Congress has a responsibility to ensure our Armed Forces remain strong as possible. Our legislation would exercise oversight over this Administration as it continues to redirect critical DoD resources away from our military's core mission of protecting our country from real adversaries who mean us harm."

"President Trump believes that he can deploy the National Guard on a whim to play into his narrative that he is 'cracking down' on crime. In reality, deploying the National Guard to cities like Chicago, without the request or consent of local leaders, is an abuse of the President's role as Commander in Chief," said Durbin. "I'm joining Senators Padilla and Duckworth to introduce the SUN Act, ensuring that there is proper oversight over the President's deployment of the National Guard."

The SUN Act would require the President's report to outline the legal basis, clear objectives and cost to taxpayers for domestic National Guard deployments for non-natural disaster related events. The report would also include the extent of interactions between civilians and the National Guard, accounts from state and local law enforcement detailing such events and certification that the deployment did not interfere with the National Guard's ability to assist with natural disaster response.

In addition to Duckworth, Durbin and Padilla, the legislation is cosponsored by U.S. Senators Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD).

Duckworth and Durbin have forcefully pushed back against Donald Trump's abuse of our nation's servicemembers and his attempts to blur the lines between law enforcement and the military-from Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and most recently Chicago. Last week, Duckworth joined Durbin and colleagues in filing an amicus brief with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the lawsuit brought against Trump after he deployed thousands of members of the California National Guard and U.S. Marine Corps to Los Angeles without legal justification or approval from state or local officials. Duckworth also joined Durbin in sending a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Noem, Department of Defense Secretary Hegseth and FBI Director Patel requesting immediate information regarding President Trump's imminent actions to send the military and increase federal law enforcement presence in Chicago.

Recently, Duckworth and Durbin-along with U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10)-visited Naval Station Great Lakes after requesting a meeting to discuss President Trump's plans to support U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers and his threats to deploy the military to Chicago. The lawmakers were locked out of the office space that DHS intends to use after requesting entry. Duckworth and Durbin also joined Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (D-IL-03) and members of the Illinois delegation in sending a letter demanding that Donald Trump and the Pentagon suspend plans for the deployment of military personnel to Chicago.

In the wake of Trump's deployment of Marines and National Guard to California, Duckworth introduced the Military in Law Enforcement Accountability Act to reform gray areas in laws that Trump is exploiting to deploy members of our military to police their fellow Americans, diverting taxpayer dollars and attention away from the military's core mission and undermining the Administration's own stated goal to focus our military on warfighting.

Full text of the legislation is available on Senator Duckworth's website.

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