(The Hill) — National Guard troops began arriving in Washington on Tuesday morning, a day after President Donald Trump deployed some 800 members to the nation’s capital to combat what he called out-of-control violent crime.
The troops were seen arriving at the D.C. Armory, the National Guard’s headquarters in the city, and are expected to be on the ground later in the day, a White House official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network.
Trump during a lengthy press conference Monday announced the deployment as well as a Justice Department takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). He claimed the city was in the midst of a crime emergency, even as violent crime in the city has fallen sharply following a post-COVID-19 pandemic spike in 2023.
“I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order, and public safety in Washington, D.C., and they’re going to be allowed to do their job properly,” he said.
Notably, the president did not offer details as to how the Guard deployment and police takeover will tackle the causes of homelessness, drug abuse or violent crimes.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser later Monday called Trump’s plan “unsettling and unprecedented” and calmly pushed back on his claims of lawlessness, pointing to official statistics that show that crime in the city has been dropping steadily.
House Armed Services Committee ranking member Adam Smith (D-Wash.) on Tuesday accused Trump of trying to create his own domestic police force.
“It’s pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force, and step-by-step he’s trying to create it, and we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C. or any other city,” Smith told CNN’s News Central.
It’s unclear where the National Guard troops will be seen around the capital city and what their command-and-control will be, but the U.S. Army has said they will help with administrative and logistical tasks in addition to providing “physical presence in support of law enforcement.”
Only between 100 and 200 soldiers will be supporting law enforcement at any given time, according to the Army.
Trump last deployed the National Guard in California to crackdown on what he claimed were violent protests against immigration enforcement activities in Los Angeles in June. But the roughly 4,000 California troops — in addition to 700 Marines sent to protect buildings — largely stood around the city without much to do after protests mostly died down after the first week.
Read: Read More