Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the state has been preparing for the possibility that President Donald Trump could deploy the National Guard to Philadelphia ever since the White House sent troops to Los Angeles in June — a move that a federal judge ruled Tuesday was illegal.
“Ever since the president made what I think is a wrong-headed decision to take the Guard away from 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 during a stop Tuesday at the city’s Dobbins Technical High School.
In video of his comments, shared by CBS Philadelphia on Instagram, Shapiro did not say what the state has been doing to prepare. He added that the state has “received no word that it is imminent by any stretch.”
The White House did not immediately comment on Shapiro’s remarks.
“I’m the former chief law enforcement officer of this commonwealth, and I understand what communities need to do to make people safe,” said Shapiro, a Democrat from Montgomery County who previously served as the state’s attorney general. “As governor, we’ve invested millions of dollars in not only policing, but in community organizations that have helped bring down violent crime.”
The governor’s office said last month that gun violence in Pennsylvania has dropped by 42% since Shapiro took office in early 2023, while violent crimes were down 12% last year compared to 2022.
“Now is not a time to disrupt that with distrust, the way the president has done in other communities. Now is the time to continue making the progress we’re making here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.
In addition to Los Angeles, Trump sent National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., last month and also federalized the police force there. He has said he also is considering sending troops into cities such as Chicago and Baltimore and suggested Wednesday that New Orleans could be another destination, The Associated Press reported. A federal judge ruled this week that the Trump administration broke the law by sending National Guard troops to Los Angeles after protests over immigration raids there, the AP reported.
