Maryland governor on National Guard deployment, addressing crime, and Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release

WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Maryland Governor Wes Moore spoke with Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday about the deployment of the National Guard and why is he opposed to it.

Governor Moore said deploying the National Guard is "not sustainable," not scaleable" and "unconstitutional." He also said deploying them is "deeply disrespectful to the members of the National Guard."

"As someone who actually deployed overseas and served my country in combat, to ask these men and women to do a job that they're not trained for is just deeply disrespectful. And so when we're thinking about all of these lasting factors, when we're thinking about the fact that it serves as a distraction from the fact that the President's disastrous economic policies are making everything more expensive for everyday American is making life harder for everyday Americans, there is a multitude of reasons that I am against this, and I will not authorize the Maryland National Guard to be utilized for this."

Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD)

During the interview, Brennan and Moore talked about crime across the country and how candidates can address the issue of crime.

According to Brennan, Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott says "he wants federal help...he doesn't want National Guard troops, per se, though, he says he wants agents from FBI, DEA and ATF," prompting her to ask Moore if he needs more federal help in policing, to which the governor said:

"Absolutely. And we need the President to stop cutting funding. Because if you look at the president's budget, it actually cuts funding towards violence intervention groups. It cuts funding towards the bureaus of the FBI and the ATF that are supporting local jurisdictions like Baltimore. That it doesn't do anything about things like ghost guns and these extended Glock clips that allow these Glocks to essentially turn into automatic weapons. Those are actually real, tangible things that the President of the United States could do and where you could put capital to actually make our communities safer."

Brennan followed by asking Moore if the Democratic Party needs to be "more vocal and muscular" when talking about crime when running for office, and he said:

"Absolutely...I believe that we have to be able to address the issue of crime. I came up in, and I have existed in neighborhoods and communities that have been chronically neglected. And I remember one of the first things that happened in our first months in, I had to visit Shock Trauma inside of Baltimore, because Baltimore had one of the largest mass shootings in its history. And I visited a young man, a teenager, who was just finished surgery and had one of his testicles shot off, and was talking about, how was he ever going to become a father? And I said, at that point, I refuse to continue doing this and not putting the proper resources in place, and not being able to put a real focus on making our communities safer. And that's why it is so frustrating when we're hearing from the President of the United States something that is just purely performative, without actually focusing on these communities and these neighborhoods who believe that progress is possible and who are willing to put in the work and we're just simply asking for Washington to be able to acknowledge it and support it."

Later in the interview, Brennan and Moore talked about the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from pre-trial detention.

When asked if there's anything he is doing to help Garcia's family stay united, Moore said in part, "All we're asking for is that the constitution be followed on this. The constitution is very clear about how we deal with these types of issues."

Moore added President Donald Trump is "manipulating" the United States "very broken immigration system."

"Instead of actually doing the work that it requires to fix it, actually working in Congress to come up with a comprehensive immigration bill, the President is using to just...working to exploit the brokenness," he explained.

To watch more of Brennan's interview with Moore, click here.