Mary Sheffield talks to supporters at Most Holy Trinity Catholic Academy in Corktown on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025.
Detroit City Council president and mayoral front runner Mary Sheffield said Wednesday at a community forum for her mayoral campaign that as mayor, she would fight back against any overstepping of local authority by the Trump administration.
Sheffield’s comments came the same day Vice President J.D. Vance jokingly told a crowd of supporters in Livingston County that all Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has to do is ask for the Trump administration to send National Guardsmen to walk the streets in an effort to decrease violent crime.
While Republicans argue the presence of troops alone creates a deterrence effect, critics say there’s no evidence using the military for civilian policing is effective as a long-term crime fighting strategy.
“I’ve been very vocal in my opposition that the National Guard coming to Detroit does not address the issue of public safety,” Sheffield said in response to a question from the audience inside a Corktown school gymnasium.
Sheffield says what does address the issue is having the amount of resources necessary to continue the city’s community violence intervention programs, proper investment in youth programming, education, mental health and housing.
She pointed to the National Guard being deployed in Detroit during the 1967 Riots. Law enforcement personnel tasked with keeping the peace were involved in actions that led to civilian injuries and deaths, including that of a 4-year-old girl, Tanya Lynn Blanding, who was killed by either a police officer or National Guardsman during the height of the chaos.
“If in fact that were to happen we would look at legal options to fight back against any type of overstepping of local government’s authority and power. And (would) ensure that we’re fighting back against it. We all know the history in Detroit of the 1967 Riots where the National Guard were here. It’s just a very dark memory and a lot of our recollection. And so, it is something I am against — I will always be vocal against that behavior.”
Vance in Howell said the city of Detroit has serious crime problems.
“My one message to Governor Whitmer is this: the city of Detroit, we know, has got some serious crime problems, and we know that it’s the people of Detroit who suffer the most when crime is allowed to run rampant all over city streets,” Vance said. “Gretchen, we are happy to send the National Guard to Detroit, Michigan. All you gotta do is ask.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has targeted cities with Black mayors over a perception that violent crime is high, threatening to send the National Guard to Chicago, Baltimore, New Orleans, and Memphis.
All of those cities have experienced drops in crime since the pandemic.
A spokesperson for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan criticized U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers for calling on the Trump administration, calling the former Republican Congressman an “unserious politician.”
“Rogers is proving himself just another uninformed, grandstanding politician,” city spokesperson John Roach said in a statement. “In 2013, the City of Detroit had more than 750 carjackings. In 2025, we had 57 as of yesterday, a 90% reduction. Our strong partnership with US Attorney Jerome Gorgon has just added several more federal prosecutors to drive the violence down even further. The historic drop in Detroit crime in recent years has come from the efforts of serious law enforcement professionals, not from non-serious politicians like Rogers.”
2023, Detroit reported 252 homicides in 2023, marking the lowest number of killings since 1966. However, the homicide rate per capita is higher today than it was then.
Republican activists like 180 Church pastor Lorenzo Sewell and Ramone Jackson pointed to the homicide rate per capita stat last year at a campaign event for Rogers’ U.S. House campaign. U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, sat at a roundtable with Rogers, Sewell and Republican activists who questioned the legitimacy of the city’s crime stats.
Duggan has pointed to the already existing relationship local law enforcement has with federal agencies, such as the DEA, ATF and FBI.
The federal government has been a huge partner in this (reduction of crime),” Duggan said in an interview with CNN when asked why Trump has not mentioned Detroit like other cities. “The president appointed Jerome Gorgon, the new U.S. Attorney, who was a career prosecutor himself, and he dramatically ramped up the federal support for gun violence. So, we’ve got the U.S. Attorney, the ATF, the DEA working hand in glove with the Detroit Police Department. It really has been a partnership with the federal government that’s producing these results.”
