COLUMBUS, Ohio — As 150 Ohio National Guard troops were deployed to the nation's capital at President Donald Trump's request, protestors in the Ohio capital urged for their release.
"Everybody needs to wake up," Marine Corps veteran Michael Todd said. "This is not normal, right?"
Todd served the country and the state, he said, but he is ashamed of the government right now. He chanted "Bring them home" with about 30 ralliers on the Statehouse steps.
"This political theater has got to end," veteran and former lawmaker Adam Miller said.
Trump’s administration asked Gov. Mike DeWine to send troops to Washington to combat what U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno calls a rise in crime.
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"We have places like New York and Chicago, and up until 10 days ago, Washington D.C., our nation's capital, that have devolved into crime hell holes, and we're just not going to let that happen," Moreno said Tuesday.
But the ACLU of Ohio’s Gary Daniels and other advocates pointed out that D.C. has seen a steady decrease in crime over the past three decades.
"We're only several months into this four-year presidency, and it begs the question, 'How much more will we see with these manufactured crises, drama and similar controversies in the future?'" Daniels said.
DeWine says that he approved the request because he tends to accept every ask, like he has done in the past for both Republican and Democratic leaders during other times of crisis or natural disasters.
The governor’s team also said that all the troops are military police, but they won’t be making arrests. They will just be patrolling the area.
"I think most Americans, if you're walking down the street and you see a police officer, honestly, there's a little bit of, 'Okay, I'm going to be safe,'" Moreno said. "That perception of safety is just as important as the actual statistics."
But for Todd, the National Guard shouldn't be used for appearances.
"That's not our mission, that's for the local police," Todd said. "Did a disaster happen? No, this is manufactured drama to divert everybody's attention from something else that's going on."
The deployment will last 30 days, but DeWine’s team told us that if Trump asks, he will extend.
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