More than 2,000 National Guardsmen from the District of Columbia and six states have been activated as part of the federal operation in the capital. The total number of troops activated to support the surge in federal law enforcement now stands at 2,091.
On Monday, the governors of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee announced they would send hundreds of troops to Washington, D.C. The move comes after Ohio, South Carolin, and West Virginia made similar announcements over the weekend. More than 1,000 outside troops are en route to join the deployment, under the authority of Joint Task Force – District of Columbia. They join — as of Monday evening — the 896 District of Columbia National Guard soldiers and airmen activated as part of President Donald Trump’s show of force inside the city.
Over the weekend, West Virginia was the first to announce it would send service members, pledging 350, per JTF-DC. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said he would send 200, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced 150 would go. On Monday, Mississippi pledged 200 National Guardsmen, Louisiana announced 135 would deploy, and Tennessee said that 160 would go “to assist with monument security, community safety patrols, protecting federal facilities, and traffic control,” per a statement from the office of Gov. Bill Lee.
“At the direction of the President and Secretary of Defense, more than 800 D.C. National Guard personnel have been on the ground supporting the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and our Federal law enforcement partners — showing that when our Nation’s capital calls, the Guard and DoD answer,” a spokesperson for JTF-DC said in a statement Monday evening to Task & Purpose. “In the days ahead, reinforcements from West Virginia will join them, strengthening the mission to secure our monuments, protect federal facilities, support community safety, and drive down crime in Washington, D.C.”
JTF-DC did not comment or confirm the other deployments, save for West Virginia, saying that 350 members of the West Virginia National Guard are expected mid-week.
President Donald Trump escalated claims of crime in the capital over the last two weeks, suggesting it was rampant despite data from the Department of Justice showing it had drastically decreased and is at a 30-year low. The Trump administration brought in hundreds of federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Customs and Border Protection, and others, in addition to announcing on Aug. 11 that the D.C. National Guard would be mobilized as well.
Troops are activated under Title 32, where they are under state authority but federally funded; D.C.’s unique status means that the D.C. National Guard is under federal authority. In the week since the troops were activated, they have predominantly been limited to certain areas in the city, including the D.C. Armory, National Mall and Union Station.
The orders for the D.C. Guard and other states were part of unit-wide activations, which are different from some National Guard missions that can be voluntary.
“These orders are involuntary. We chose soldiers based on availability and ensured those assigned are not part of our immediate hurricane response force,” Maj. Karla Evans, a spokesperson for the South Carolina National Guard. “Most important to highlight is the positive morale of our soldiers, they are trained and ready to answer the call.”
Top Stories This Week
In June, the Trump administration federalized 4,100 California National Guard members under Title 10 of the U.S. Code to protect federal property and personnel as protests broke out against immigration raids. Those troops were augmented by hundreds of Marines from Twentynine Palms, California, but were mostly limited to a handful of federal buildings across a much larger geographical area than the District of Columbia. That mission saw National Guardsmen accompany federal agents on immigration and drug raids across the wider southern California area. As of mid-August, Marines were sent back to base, and all but a few hundred troops have been released back to state authority.
In Washington, D.C., federal law enforcement has been much more present in recent days, patrolling throughout the city, searching and arresting people in both daytime and nighttime. Members of the FBI and Secret Service have also been seen as authorities clear homeless encampments. There are approximately 3,782 single persons and 1,356 adults and children in families experiencing homelessness on any given night in D.C., according to Community Partnership, an advocacy organization working to fight homelessness in the district. The vast majority of those people are in shelters or other forms of transitional housing and fewer than 800 people are living on the streets.
The Department of Defense has reiterated throughout the last week that the National Guard troops “will not arrest, search or direct law enforcement” but can briefly detain individuals to pass them off to law enforcement personnel. One Guardsman briefly detained a person on the National Mall last week after a Park Police officer requested help following a fight.
