President Donald Trump made it clear he wants to send federal troops to the U.S. southern border in an executive order that’s aimed at immigration. It was one of several orders he issued on his second inauguration day.
In the order, “declaring a national emergency at the southern border,” Trump said “it is necessary for the Armed Forces to take all appropriate action” in response to cartels, illegal border crossings and more.
Trump also issued an executive order directing the U.S. military to come up with a plan to “provide steady-state southern border security” and “seal the border.”
“One interpretation of this executive order … is that the president is invoking his authority as commander-in-chief to essentially deploy the military, not for law enforcement purposes, which is what immigration enforcement actually is, but for a military campaign against people entering the country without documentation,” Elizabeth Goitein, a senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program told Defense One.
A president hasn’t deployed the military in the U.S. in more than 30 years, the National Defense University Press reported in 2020.
Here are 10 times a president has used federal forces domestically in the past 200 years:
George H.W. Bush deploys military during Los Angeles riots
“Let me assure you, I will use whatever force is necessary to restore order. What is going on in L.A. must and will stop,” President George H.W. Bush vowed on May 1, 1992.
That’s when the 41st president of the U.S. signed an executive order, promising the deployment of federal forces to Los Angeles to crackdown on riots that broke out after four white Los Angeles Police Department officers were acquitted in the brutal beating of Rodney King, a Black man, Defense360 reported.
California’s governor at the time, Pete Wilson and L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley called on Bush to invoke the Insurrection Act — a law that authorizes the use of military forces inside the U.S. — after Wilson first deployed the state’s National Guard to the city, according to the Defense360 report.
After nearly 10,000 California National Guardsmen were unable to “quell unrest,” Bush sent 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 7th Infantry Division and 1,500 U.S. Marines to the city, according to the National Defense University Press’ report.
Three years earlier, Bush similarly sent military forces to St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands over unrest and violence following Hurricane Hugo in 1989, according to the report.
Lyndon B. Johnson deploys Army after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination
In response to the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, riots and unrest in several major U.S. cities followed.
President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed 23,000 Army soldiers, in addition to 15,600 National Guardsman, to “restore order” over the violence, according to the National Defense University Press. Forces were sent to Detroit, Baltimore and Chicago.
This wasn’t the first time Johnson deployed troops domestically during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
Lyndon B. Johnson sends troops to Detroit
In 1967, the military was deployed to Detroit to control a “violent race riot,” the National Defense University Press reported.
On July 24, 1967, Johnson announced with the “greatest regret” that he issued an executive order to send federal troops after local officials were unable to control unrest in the city.
“Law enforcement is a local matter. It is the responsibility of local officials and the Governors of the respective States. The Federal Government should not intervene except in the most extraordinary circumstances,” he said in a speech.
Days of violence ensued after, the night before, white officers “raided an illegal Black nightclub,” according to History.com.
Police officers and military troops killed 30 Black people, History.com reported. Seven other Black people also died.
John F. Kennedy deploys Army in ‘Battle of Oxford’
In what came to be known as the “Battle of Oxford,” President John F. Kennedy deployed U.S. Army soldiers to Oxford, Mississippi in 1962, according to the National Defense University Press’ report.
The move came after the state’s governor went against a court order and allowed a Black student to enroll at the University of Mississippi, which angered segregationists, the report said. This was before segregation became illegal in the U.S., two years later.
Local residents, university students and segregationists protested James Meredith’s enrollment at the school, which was all-white, according to the University of Georgia. Meredith was a U.S. Air Force veteran.
Kennedy sent U.S. marshals, National Guardsman and soldiers to Oxford, where segregationists rioted and attacked federal troops, including by shooting at Army convoys, for two days, according to the National Defense University Press’ report.
Dwight D. Eisenhower sends Army to Arkansas
In 1957, in response to segregationists and Arkansas’ governor taking steps to stop Black students from attending high school in Little Rock, President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent soldiers from the Army’s 101st Airborne Division to the state’s capital, the report said.
The governor at the time, Orval Faubus, ignored the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, which ordered the desegregation of schools, according to the report.
He tried to use state police and the National Guard to prevent Black students from attending Little Rock High School, resulting in Eisenhower ordering police to disperse and sending federal troops to “enforce the court order,” the report said.
Herbert Hoover sends Army to Capitol Hill during Great Depression
During the Great Depression, which was caused by the stock market crash in 1929, World War I veterans came together in Washington D.C., advocating for financial support that had been promised to them as part of a Service Bonus, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
About 10,000 to 20,000 veterans gathered at the U.S. capital, demanding that they be paid, and set up “shanty towns and camps,” according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
President Herbert Hoover deployed about 3,500 Army soldiers, in addition to police, to remove the veterans with tear gas, bayonets, and by setting fire to their camps, the VA said.
Five tanks armed with machine guns ran over one camp, according to the VA.
Woodrow Wilson sends soldiers during ‘race riots’
The 28th U.S. President, Woodrow Wilson, took action against “race riots” in Washington, D.C., Nebraska, Arkansas and Kentucky in 1919, according to the National Defense University Press.
After the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department released a Black man accused of sexually assaulting a white woman, whose husband was in the Navy, several military servicemen and veterans were outraged, according to online encyclopedia BlackPast.
As a result, Black individuals were beaten at random by angry mobs throughout the nation’s capital, including outside of the White House, according to BlackPast, which reported police didn’t intervene.
Then, fighting began between members of the Black community and white citizens, leading to Wilson deploying nearly 2,000 soldiers to control the riots, BlackPast reported.
Grover Cleveland deploys troops in Pullman Strike
In 1894, during what was coined as the “Pullman Strike,” President Grover Cleveland sent U.S. marshals and about 12,000 soldiers to control hundreds of thousands of rail workers who went on strike in 27 states, the National Defense University Press reported.
The strike, which happened from May to June of that year, caused multiple railroads to shut down, impacting the delivery of mail, according to the publication’s report.
“Fighting between the military and workers at rail yards in the Chicago area left dozens dead and more wounded,” the National Park Service reported.
Rutherford B. Hayes deploys Army
For the first time in U.S. history, federal troops were deployed to a labor dispute by President Rutherford B. Hayes during “The Great Railroad Strike” of 1877, according to the Eno Center for Transportation.
Military forces were sent to Maryland, West Virginia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania after violent clashes between railroad workers and local enforcement, the National Guard and private militias, the Washington D.C.-based research foundation reported.
This was “America’s first nationwide uprising of workers,” according to the organization.
“The president made clear that he sent troops to preserve order not to side with the railroad’s management,” the Eno Center for Transportation said.
Abraham Lincoln sends militia and Marines
President Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president, sent New York militiamen and U.S. Marines to control rioters during the “New York City Draft Riots” in 1863, about two years before the Civil War ended, according to Military.com
In New York City, riots broke out over citizens being drafted to fight in the war, Military.com reported. For citizens with wealth, they could pay $300 to prevent themselves from being drafted.
“The violence got so bad, President Lincoln also sent battle-hardened veterans — who just finished fighting at Gettysburg — to New York to restore and maintain order,” Military.com reported.
After President George H.W. Bush sent federal troops to Los Angeles in 1992, the National Defense University Press reported: “no President since then has deployed Federal forces in the United States to enforce Federal law and restore civil order under the terms of calling forth the military.”
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