The Chamberlain Network Joins 25 Organizations Urging Governor Whitmer to Bring Michigan's National Guard Home from Washington

Atlanta, GA — The Chamberlain Network today joined 25 partner organizations — including the Brennan Center for Justice, Protect Democracy, Vet Voice Foundation, and Common Defense — in a letter urging Governor Gretchen Whitmer to withdraw Michigan National Guard forces from Washington, D.C.

Michigan's Guard members were sent to Washington under 32 U.S.C. § 502(f), a provision that lets governors lend their forces for federal missions — and lets them decline, or bring those forces home, at any time. The stated purpose was security for events marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Out-of-state Guard assistance for major events in the nation's capital has a long, unremarkable history.

However, this deployment has strayed far beyond ordinary security for a national celebration. Michigan's Guard members have instead been folded into an ongoing armed law-enforcement operation in the District. Michigan's forces have been assigned to Joint Task Force–DC, the command created in August 2025 to coordinate National Guard support to law enforcement in the city. They have been observed patrolling residential neighborhoods far from any anniversary event. The major crowds of the July 4th weekend have come and gone; Michigan's forces are slated to remain through the end of August. Governors Walz, Moore, Beshear, and Stein, who also sent forces for anniversary events, have withdrawn them or will do so this week.

"Michigan's Guard members didn't sign up to police American neighborhoods," said Chris Purdy, CEO of The Chamberlain Network and an Army National Guard veteran. "Every day they spend on DC streets, they're put in an impossible position. Public safety belongs to accountable civilian institutions — not to soldiers. Governor Whitmer has the authority to bring her National Guard home. She should use it."

The Chamberlain Network has opposed the misuse of the National Guard for domestic policing wherever it has occurred — in Los Angeles, in Washington, in Chicago, in Memphis — and whoever has ordered it. The standard does not change with the party of the leader involved. The National Guard exists to protect its communities and defend the nation, and honoring that service means refusing to spend it on missions it was never meant for.

We urge Governor Whitmer to recall Michigan's National Guard forces from Washington, D.C.

Read the full coalition letter here: [https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/coalition-letter-governor-whitmer]