As Trump gears up to expand use of National Guard troops in cities, Shapiro says Pa. is prepared

by John Cole, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
September 2, 2025

As elected leaders in Chicago are bracing for President Donald Trump to potentially send National Guard troops to their city, Gov. Josh Shapiro criticized the president’s use of the military in U.S. communities.

He also said that they are ready if the Trump Administration turns its attention to Pennsylvania.

“Ever since the president made what I think is a wrong-headed decision to take the guard away from the governor and put them on the streets of Los Angeles, we…have been preparing for such a thing to happen here in Philadelphia,” Shapiro said in response to a question from the Capital-Star on Tuesday. “We’ve received no word that it is imminent, by any stretch.”

During the summer, Trump’s administration sent National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests. A federal judge in California on Tuesday ruled that the move violated a federal law against military members conducting domestic law enforcement.

Shapiro noted the ruling and the president’s rhetoric as a reason for the state to be preparing for Trump potentially sending National Guard personnel to Pennsylvania.

“I’m the former chief law enforcement officer of this commonwealth, and I understand what communities need to do to make people safe,” Shapiro said. “As governor, we’ve invested millions of dollars in not only policing, but in community organizations that have helped bring down violent crime by 42%.”

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“Now is not a time to disrupt that with distrust, the way the president is doing in other communities,” he added. “Now is the time for us to continue making the progress we’re making here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I’m going to focus on that, but our teams are prepared for whatever the White House may try and send our way.”

Following the ruling from Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in California, Democratic elected officials in the Golden State celebrated the decision.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who sued to block Trump’s federalization of the state’s National Guard, said the ruling “sided with democracy and the Constitution” and echoed Breyer’s warning about Trump leading a national police force. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass accused the White House of trying to “invade the second largest city in the country.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandan Johnson, both Democrats, have also been outspoken in their opposition to the prospect of the National Guard being sent to Chicago.

“To Chicagoans, what you can do is look out for your communities and your neighbors. Know your rights. Film things that you see happening in your neighborhoods and streets and share them with the news media,” Pritzker said on Tuesday afternoon. “Authoritarians thrive on your silence. Be loud for America.”

Trump has mentioned multiple cities, including Chicago and Baltimore, as potential areas he could send troops to in an effort to combat crime. An FBI report released last month shows violent crime in the United States fell 4.5% in 2024, while property crime dropped 8.1% from the previous year.

Troops are currently patrolling Washington D.C., under what President Trump called a crime emergency. He was able to mobilize the District of Columbia, because the district is not a state.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, an elected official, has written on X, formerly Twitter, that the Trump administration’s “actions are unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful.”

“There is no crime emergency in the District of Columbia. Violent crime in DC reached historic 30-year lows last year, and is down another 26% so far this year,” Schwalb said.

However, not all elected officials have criticized Trump’s efforts in the nation’s capital. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, spoke positively about the impact of Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement officers, NBC News reports, although she also claimed that the presence of masked ICE agents and National Guard members “is not working.”

The ruling by Breyer on Tuesday morning that Trump could not use the National Guard for a wide array of police activities in California will go into effect Sept. 12.

However, it is likely that Trump will appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The president secured a victory in an earlier case in that court.

As budget impasse goes beyond 2 months, Shapiro says differences are being narrowed

During Shapiro’s visit to Murrell Dobbins CTE High School on Tuesday, he participated in a panel discussion with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker. He also told reporters that he was heading back to Harrisburg on Tuesday afternoon to meet with leaders to continue discussions about the state budget.

“It’s time for them to make some tough decisions to close this out,” Shapiro said. “The issues have been narrowed. They’ve got to make tough decisions and get this done.”

“It’s been 210 days since I introduced my budget. The Senate’s only come to work 26 times since then,” he added. “They’ve got to come back to Harrisburg, do their jobs and pass a budget that includes funding for mass transit.”

Shapiro said he’s “deeply concerned” about the impact of the service cuts from SEPTA on the Philadelphia-region.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Scott Martin, a Republican from Lancaster County, told NBC10 on Aug. 28 that a long-term solution for SEPTA was “not going to happen.”

Shapiro said that he was not going to negotiate the topic of a short term vs long term solution on SEPTA and mass transit funding through the media.

“The caucus that Senator Pittman leads, the Republican caucus in the Senate, has very different views than the Democratic caucus that Leader Bradford leads in the House of Representatives,” Shapiro said. “I’ve been working hard to go back and forth between them to find that common ground, to help our rural brothers and sisters understand that the strength of Philadelphia helps drive our economy, and in many ways, the strength of Philadelphia is predicated upon having a strong mass transit system.”

“I’ve tried to remind all the leaders and the lawmakers that mass transit is an issue that affects us in all 67 counties. I’ve tried to remind them that thanks to our investments in public education, as you’ve heard here today, we’re making significant progress,” he added. “We’ve got to keep making those investments. I’m confident we’ll get there, but finding that common ground between the two leaders, between the two caucuses, is a challenge. We’re going to get there.”

Shapiro wouldn’t get into the details of internal discussions and what the main sticking points were, but said it was his job to find enough Republican and Democratic votes in both chambers to come to a budget agreement.

“I’m confident we can get there, but these two leaders need to make some tough decisions,” he said. “Part of the decisions they need to make are quieting some of the extreme voices within their own caucus.”

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