Baltimore veterans 'say no' to Trump's long-promised deployment plans

Tinashe Chingarande, The Baltimore Sun on Nov 11, 2025

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BALTIMORE — As Veterans Day commemoration events occurred across Baltimore, over a dozen veterans gathered Tuesday morning to condemn President Donald Trump’s plans to deploy the National Guard to the city and how ICE has been enacting the president’s immigration agenda.

Local grassroots organizations, The Baltimore Rapid Response Network and About Face, convened veterans at the War Memorial Plaza for “Vets Say No” — an event that is part of a national day of protest where activists in major cities across the country denounced Trump deploying federal troops to Washington, D.C., Portland and Chicago, among other cities.

Bobby LaPin, an army veteran who owns a local sailboat tour business, called Trump’s actions “unprecedented.”

“Every time the National Guard has been called up by the president, it’s to advance civil rights,” LaPin said Tuesday in an interview with The Baltimore Sun. “It’s to protect freedoms in this country, or to help those who have been put in horrible positions by natural disasters, fires, floods, things like that.”

In his later remarks during the event, LaPin argued — referring to how army veterans have historically been on the frontlines of fighting for racial justice in the United States — that veterans must “stand and defend this nation, not from enemies abroad, but from racism and fascism and corporate corruption that is growing here at home.”

Ryan Harvey, who is not a veteran but works for the Baltimore Rapid Response Network, emphasized the importance of veterans speaking out against what they perceive to be an abuse of power by political leaders and those in service.

“It’s no shock that some of the earliest leaders in the Civil Rights Movement were veterans of World War II,” he said in an interview with The Baltimore Sun. “Veterans have always been looking at the world with a critical eye, given what they’ve done and what they’ve been told to do.”

Asked to react to the “Vets Say No” event, a White House spokesperson argued “the real cause for concern is the Democrats’ defense of violent riots and attacks on law enforcement — not President Trump’s action to provide safety and security for Americans around the country.”

“President Trump has utilized his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel following violent, left-wing riots that local leaders like [California Gov. Gavin] Newscum and [Illinois Gov. JB] Pritzker have refused to stop,” Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, said in a statement to The Baltimore Sun.

Trump said in September that he would order federal troops to Baltimore to fight crime because it is one of the “most dangerous places” in the country — even though Baltimore, at the time, had recorded its lowest ever homicide rate.

Gov. Wes Moore took a thinly veiled dig at the president, saying that he would “never honor ignorance.” [Moore in October announced that Maryland would co-lead a coalition of governors and attorneys general supporting Oregon’s legal action against Trump deploying federal troops to the state.] Moore didn’t respond to requests for comment by the publication deadline.

Mayor Brandon Scott also decried Trump’s plans and argued that the best way to continue lowering crime rates in the city is to “is to restore funding for public safety programs, pass a federal ban on both ghost guns and Glock switches, and repeal the Tiahrt Amendment — allowing local governments to fully track down where the weapons used in the commitment of crime on the streets come from.” Scott didn’t respond to requests for comment by the publication deadline.

When The Sun asked the White House when and if Trump intends to act on his promise to send troops, a White House official said in an email, “We would not get ahead of the President on any potential announcements that may or may not happen.”

Veterans at the event said they believe it’s only a matter of time before Trump acts on his promise and they appreciate Moore’s efforts to counter it.

“He’s doing as much as he possibly can,” LaPin said of Moore’s defense, adding that he spoke to the governor two weeks ago and relayed his concerns about federal troops being deployed to Baltimore.

Ellen Barfield, who served in the army in the 1970s and is a board member of Veterans For Peace, said Moore’s response to Trump so far has “been probably about right.” But, she added, “It would be satisfying if he got really loud.”

Harvey added, “[Moore] has been pretty clear with the president that he’s the Commander in Chief of the Maryland National Guard.”

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