President Donald Trump ordered 800 National Guardsmen to deploy to Washington, D.C., on Monday. The move is the latest deployment of military personnel on U.S. soil during Trump’s second term, now in its seventh month.
The National Guard troops will “help reestablish law, order, and public safety in Washington, D.C.,” Trump announced at a news conference on Monday morning.
“And they are going to be allowed to do their job properly,” Trump said at a White House news conference.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who also attended Monday’s news conference, told reporters that the District of Columbia National Guard has been mobilized at the president’s direction.
“You will see them flowing into the streets of Washington in the coming week,” Hegseth said. “At your direction as well, sir, there are other units we are prepared to bring in: other National Guard units, other specialized units. They will be strong. They will be tough. And they will stand with their law enforcement partners.”
Between 100 and 200 of the D.C. National Guard soldiers who have been activated will be tasked with “supporting law enforcement at any given time,” said Maj. Montrell Russell, an Army spokesperson.
“Their duties will include an array of tasks from administrative, logistics and physical presence in support of law enforcement,” Russell said in a statement on Monday.
In a memo to Hegseth on Monday, Trump wrote that the D.C. National Guard would remain mobilized “until I determine that conditions of law and order have been restored in the District of Columbia.” Trump also ordered Hegseth to work with state governors to deploy their National Guard troops to augment the mission to the nation’s capital if needed.
Trump telegraphed the move before the news conference by posting on social media Monday morning, “Washington, D.C. will be LIBERATED today! Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR. I will, MAKE OUR CAPITAL GREAT AGAIN! The days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are OVER!”
“Other cities are hopefully watching this,” Trump said at Monday’s news conference. “And maybe they’ll self clean up, and maybe they’ll self do this and get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that cause the problem.”
The District of Columbia National Guard has approximately 2,700 soldiers and airmen. Unlike other National Guard commands, which answer to state governors, the D.C. National Guard reports to the president. Authority for their activation is delegated to the Secretary of the Army.
The D.C. Guard just had a change of command over the weekend. Maj. Gen. John C. Andonie, who had been serving as the interim commanding general since September 2023, stepped down on Aug. 9. Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard II is the new interim commander.
The district is technically under the authority of the U.S. Congress, but maintains some autonomy to run a local government under the Home Rule of 1973 law.
The D.C. National Guard is a regular presence at presidential inaugurations. They deployed into the district during the protests that broke out in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. They deployed again months later after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That presence carried over into preparations for Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration later that month.
Monday’s order comes after Trump had repeatedly threatened the use of troops in Washington, D.C., posting to social media last week that if “D.C. doesn’t get its act together, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the city.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized the city and its leadership in recent days, specifically claiming that crime is out of control. On his Truth Social app, he posted that the city is “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World.”
However, according to the Justice Department, violent crime in the district is at a 30-year low and dropped 35% year over year from 2023 to 2024.
Trump has also singled out homelessness in the city in his social media posts, saying that unhoused people need “to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” or face eviction. Trump said they would be given places to stay “far” from the city, but did not provide additional details in his Truth Social post.
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Washington, D.C. has 3,782 single persons and 1,356 adults and children in families experiencing homelessness on any given night, according to Community Partnership, an advocacy organization working to fight homelessness in the district. The overwhelming majority of those people are in shelters or transitional housing, with fewer than 800 people living on the streets. Approximately 5% of the homeless population are military veterans, according to the group.
Over the weekend, the FBI began sending agents out around Washington for nighttime patrols to aid local law enforcement in response to Trump’s claims of violent crime, the Washington Post reported.
The activation of the D.C. National Guard is the second time Trump has ordered National Guard troops into major cities. In June, Trump ordered soldiers from the California National Guard to be federalized under Title 10 of the U.S. Code in response to protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
A total of 4,100 California National Guardsmen took part in the mission, along with hundreds of Marines based out of Southern California. Assigned to protect federal property and personnel, they mostly stood guard around federal buildings, but also accompanied Department of Homeland Security agents on immigration raids and drug busts, providing security perimeters but not directly engaging in law enforcement activities. Approximately 300 California Guardsmen remain under federal command.
While speaking about his efforts to curb crime in Washington, D.C., Trump said that his administration will “look at other cities also.”
“If we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster,” said Trump, who later added, “Hopefully, L.A. is watching.”
UPDATE: 08/11/2025; this story was updated after publication with comments from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, President Donald Trump, the White House, and the Army.
