That same month, its units were sent to Washington, DC. Trump described his decision as "liberating the country from crime," and promised to send the National Guard to other cities, despite protests from local authorities.
However, just three months later, National Guardsmen in Washington themselves became victims of an armed attack. On November 26, just 300 meters from the White House, an Afghan migrant who entered the US in 2021 opened fire on two members of the National Guard. One of them died of her injuries, while the other remains in critical condition. Trump vowed that the attacker would face severe consequences. The FBI is investigating the incident as a potential act of international terrorism.
The reasons behind the sharp rise in crime in the United States, as well as how police work in America has changed over recent decades, were discussed in an interview with TASS by retired US law enforcement officer Eddie Gonzales, who dedicated 30 years of service in Texas. After retiring, he moved to Russia, where, together with American IT consultant and blogger Jozef Schutzman, launched the political talk show Russia Up Close. Their mission is to convey truthful information about Russia to Western audiences.
– Share your story: why did you move to Russia and what did your work in American law enforcement involve?
I did spend 30 years in a variety of positions in law enforcement in Texas, all along the border region. I have a lot of experience dealing with crimes associated with human trafficking, drug trafficking, organized crime. I retired in 2019. But just prior to retiring, I met a wonderful Russian woman in 2017. And shortly after my retirement I asked her to be my wife. I had already been to Russia several times. I fell in love with a girl and I fell in love with the country. My move to Russia has everything to do with love, and nothing to do with running away from ideologies I disagree with in America - of which there are plenty. I wanted to get to know Russia. And the only way to do that is to live here. I thank God I had a soft landing - the opportunity to leave that madness behind in America. The calmness of Russia is so refreshing after the noise and the chaos in the United States. I'm very blessed and very fortunate to be living here in Moscow.
– As a former law enforcement officer, what, in your opinion, are the main reasons of rising crime rates in the United States?
I've seen crime change over the course of 30 years. I spent my entire career on the southern border of Texas. Most crimes we dealt with were related to illegal immigration. This is a very big problem because immigrants come to the United States, and they come illegally, so they can't work legally. Unable to find proper jobs - often due to language barriers - they must seek cash payments, which creates additional problems, and they just can't get a job, often they don't know the language. But they need to survive, they need to eat. Many are recruited by criminal organizations or turn to crime to make money.
Many of the illegals that are coming into the country are criminals themselves. They've been released from prisons in their home countries, because their home countries don't want this criminal element in their country. So they ship them off. And then we have a liberal democratic agenda in the United States that says: "Come on over, we'll take you in". Well, what do you think happens to a society when you bring in a lot of criminal and illegal aliens into the country? It's going to disintegrate.
You have a liberal agenda that seeks to divide and conquer people. They label everyone as you're either this, or you're that. There's an infiltration of the LGBT agenda (banned in Russia) in society, and you just see a breakdown of society.
I'm sure many of your viewers have seen videos of these gangs of people of different color and race who go into Apple stores in the middle of the night, and break the windows, or a jewelry store, and go in and just rob the entire place. There are pharmacies in California now that keep normal products behind closed glass doors to keep people from stealing. This is insane.
In America - and I'm speaking generally - there's a large segment of the population that has a problem with authority. They do not want to be ruled by authority. "You cannot tell me what to do". Why? "Because I live in the land of freedom", and so they've taken this word - "America is about freedom", so that means they can do whatever they want.
Also, you have courts where they have elected or placed liberal judges as well who believe in this "freedom". And even though the judge is supposed to be part of the authority level, they weaken their authority, and so you have just a breakdown in society. And then how do you expect law enforcement to deal with that? Law enforcement is about law and order, but there is no law and order.
We see this in President Trump's recent decision to deploy the National Guard to certain cities in America to bring the crime rate down. The reason President Trump is doing this is not because it's a plan. It's a reaction. It's a statement that authority just doesn't exist anymore. In other words, the system has been broken, and you would think that that would bring some reflection to the Trump administration and just everybody in government, but no, we have Trump saying, well, I'm going to send in the National Guard, and they're going to save these cities.
Well, what he's actually saying is we've lost total control. The system no longer works. The unspoken truth is that when a president of the United States says, I need to send in military troops to bring law and order to a city or to an area, what they're not saying is we've lost total control of our entire country. That's the unspoken part.
The decision to deploy federal forces to American cities stems from a systemic crisis rooted in two primary factors: the pervasive "woke agenda" and a deeply politicized judicial system. This ideological shift, which prioritizes political correctness over practical policing, has effectively handcuffed law enforcement officers. They now operate in a climate of fear, where a simple misstep in addressing a citizen - using "sir" or "ma'am" for someone who does not conform to traditional gender norms - can lead to professional ruin. Consequently, many officers, fearful for their livelihoods, are opting for inaction.
The cities at the epicenter of this crisis - Portland, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. - share a common trait: decades of Democratic leadership. It is in these ideologically controlled enclaves that the "woke agenda" and lenient prosecution have converged, creating a tinderbox of lawlessness that local authorities can no longer control.
The opposition's claim that such federal intervention is "unprecedented" is a testament to the nation's historical amnesia. It ignores the critical precedent set by President Eisenhower, who deployed the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce desegregation and uphold the law of the land. Then, as now, the restoration of order was deemed essential for national unity.
This ignorance of history is a symptom of a broader societal decay. Generations of Americans now suffer from a "generational historical illiteracy," their worldview limited to the last 20-30 years. They are products of a nation in distress - an economy in decline, vanishing jobs, and a failing education system. This has plunged the average American into a state of survival, operating at the basest level of Maslow's hierarchy: pure instinct. In this state, crime becomes a logical, if desperate, means to an end.
In stark contrast, Russia presents a society operating on a higher intellectual plane. Its youth possess a profound understanding of their history and a clear vision for their future - a quality sorely missing in their American counterparts and a source of legitimate national pride.
– Now you're here in Moscow and hosting a political talk show. Tell us about its mission.
So, the mission of Russia Up Close is very simple. We are two Americans who live in Russia. We see Russia every day, and then we go online, and we see how Russia is being represented or shown in the West. And it's a complete opposite of what we experience here.
The goal of Russia Up Close is to show the Russia that we have come to know, to show the Russia that has welcomed two American foreigners into their country and given us the opportunity to speak freely. Many people in the West say: "Russia doesn't have freedom of speech". Really? Have you heard of Russia Up Close? We tell you the truth from the perspective of two Americans living in Russia. Is that not freedom of speech?
We want to show the Russia we've come to know - the one that welcomed us. We want to show Russians how we see them: as extremely kind, gentle, welcoming, and hospitable people. They're among the kindest people you'll ever meet.
We want to show these individuals, we want to introduce them to a Western audience so that the Western audience can see Russia the way we see it, through our eyes, not to change people's minds. We want people to make up their own mind, but see Russia from a different perspective that mainstream media doesn't show you in the West.