Three states to deploy hundreds of national guard troops to Washington DC

Metropolitan police officers and military police soldiers look ahead in Washington DC on Saturday.
Photo: AP

The Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio announced Saturday they will send National Guard troops to Washington, DC, in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to federally take over law enforcement in the city, CNN reports.

West Virginia’s governor said his state was sending 300 to 400 National Guard troops to the nation’s capital. South Carolina authorized the deployment of 200 troops, and Ohio said it will send 150.

“At the request of the Trump administration, I have directed the @WVNationalGuard to support the President’s initiative to make D.C. safe and beautiful. We are deploying 300-400 skilled personnel to the nation’s capital, reflecting our commitment to a strong and secure America,” West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in a post on Saturday.

The efforts will be federally funded, and the state’s National Guard will provide “mission-essential” equipment and training, according to a statement from Morrisey’s office.

A White House official said Saturday that the West Virginia troops “will protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials to carry out their duties when required, and provide a visible presence to deter crime.”

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said the federal government will pay for the deployment of his state’s troops. “Our National Guard will work to assist President Trump’s mission, and should a hurricane or natural disaster threaten our state, they can and will be immediately recalled home to respond,” he said.

In a statement, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he was “asked by the Secretary of the Army to send 150 military police from the Ohio National Guard to support the District of Columbia National Guard,” adding that the troops “are expected to arrive in” the nation’s capital “in the coming days.”

“These Ohio National Guard members will carry out presence patrols and serve as added security,” DeWine said.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office declined to comment on the deployment of additional National Guard troops, though the mayor posted on her personal account on Saturday night that “American soldiers and airmen policing American citizens on American soil is #UnAmerican.”

The deployment of other states’ troops marks an escalation of Trump’s efforts to address crime in the capital. The president previously announced that he was deploying over 800 DC National Guard troops to the city, surging federal agents into the streets, and federalizing DC’s police force. The president has repeatedly complained about rising crime in DC, but overall crime numbers are lower this year than in 2024.

While the National Guard isn’t making arrests at this time, a White House official said earlier Saturday the troops now may be armed. CNN reported earlier in the week the guardsmen would likely have weapons nearby — in their trucks, for example — if they absolutely need to access them for self-defense purposes.

The number of federal agents patrolling the streets of DC following Trump’s declaration of a crime emergency has also ramped up, according to an internal Secret Service memo obtained by CNN.

Trump’s efforts to “beautify the city” also include cracking down on homeless encampments. 25 encampments were removed, according to the White House official. Sweeps began Wednesday after an anxious few days in which homeless residents and their allies waited to see who would be targeted and which federal agencies would be involved.

White House officials said they’ll send homeless people to shelters — or to jails if they refuse to leave encampments. But advocates said this would be unlawful, counterproductive and costly by disrupting existing efforts to move homeless people into shelters or permanent housing.

Army veteran Alan Dent, a Rockville, Maryland, resident, told CNN that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard amounts to a “power grab” and argued that the city is safe.

Bowser, the city’s Democratic mayor, has repeatedly said she wants to make sure the federal law enforcement surge is useful to the city, though she struck a more adversarial tone during an event this week, calling Trump’s police department takeover an “authoritarian push.”

US National Guard members patrol Union Station in Washington DC on August 15.
Photo: AFP

The moves announced on Saturday came as protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and national guard troops fanning out in the heavily Democratic city following Donald Trump’s executive order federalizing local police forces and activating about 800 District of Columbia national guard members, ‘The Guardian’ writes.

A protest against Trump’s intervention drew scores to Dupont Circle on Saturday before a march to the White House, about 1.5 miles away. Demonstrators assembled behind a banner that said, “No fascist takeover of DC”, and some in the crowd held signs saying, “No military occupation”.

Fueling the protests were concerns about Trump overreach and that he had used crime as a pretext to impose his will on Washington.

Since arriving in Washington last week, about 800 national guard troops under Trump’s direct control have served as a visible presence in public areas, assigned to administrative and logistical duties as well as “area beautification” work, according to ‘The Wall Street Journal’.

Defense officials had said they would not be carrying weapons but “weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armory,” the US army said in a press release.

Trump has indicated that he may take similar actions in other Democratic-controlled cities. A federal judge in San Francisco is expected in the coming weeks to issue a ruling on whether Trump violated the law by deploying national guard troops to Los Angeles in June without the approval of California’s governor, Gavin Newsom.

Typically the national guard is deployed only in instances where a state governor requests it. However, the DC national guard reports directly to the president.

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