Three more Republican governors authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington on Monday, as part of President Donald Trump’s escalating show of force. Trump claims the deployment is aimed at cracking down on crime and boosting immigration enforcement in the nation’s capital. The announcements from Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana brought the total number of state troops detailed to the president’s effort to more than 1,100, increasing the number of states involved to six.
Governors from these states said they were responding to requests from the Trump administration to join the operation. It was not immediately clear why the administration requested additional military support. Around 800 troops have already been called up from the Washington, D.C., Guard and have had a limited role in Trump’s 10-day-old effort to take control of D.C. law enforcement.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the descriptions of the operation needed to be more honest, acknowledging that it wasn’t just about curbing crime but about immigration enforcement—a centerpiece of the second Trump administration's policies that has resonated across the country in recent months. During a news conference, Bowser pushed back on Trump’s characterization of the city and voiced skepticism about the administration’s intentions.
“I think it makes the point that this is not about D.C. crime,” Bowser said of the administration and states deploying National Guard members to the streets of the capital. “The focus should be on violent crime. ... Nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence. If this is really about immigration enforcement, the administration should make that plain.”
Trump’s executive order that launched the federal operation declared a “crime emergency” in the District of Columbia and initiated a takeover of Washington’s police department. The administration has ordered local police to cooperate with federal agents on immigration enforcement, in direct contradiction to local laws prohibiting such collaboration.
Federal agents have arrested 160 undocumented people in the district since the operation began, including individuals White House officials claim are known gang members with prior felony offenses.
The executive order has led to friction with the local government and heightened tensions in the community, as the surge of federal agents in the capital has sparked both praise and protest from residents.
The nation’s capital can govern itself through powers delegated to it by Congress, though federal laws grant the president and Congress wide authority to intervene when they see fit. That longstanding tension has led to a legal standoff between local officials and the White House over the current troop deployment and surge of federal officers into the district.
In what could further heighten tensions on the streets, Washington has been informed of the intent for National Guard members to be armed, though it has not yet received details about when or where armed Guard members might be deployed in the District. This information came from a person familiar with the plans who was not authorized to disclose them and spoke on condition of anonymity.
This would be a departure from previous Pentagon and Army statements, which said that troops would remain unarmed. The Army stated last week that “weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armory.” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson also stated last week that troops won’t be armed.
In response to questions about whether Guard members in Washington would be armed in the coming days, the District of Columbia National Guard said troops “may be armed consistent with their mission and training.” Maj. Melissa Heintz, a spokesperson for the D.C. Guard, did not provide further details.
The stepped-up Guard presence grew on Monday with the new deployments from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee, all led by Republican governors. A spokesperson for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said the governor had granted a request from the Trump administration for the state’s National Guard members “to assist with monument security, community safety patrols, protecting federal facilities, and traffic control." The troops “are ready to assist as long as needed," the governor’s office said.
In addition to Monday's announcements, West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 troops, South Carolina pledged 200, and Ohio said it would send 150 in the coming days—deployments that build on Trump’s initial order for 800 National Guard troops as part of the federal intervention.
National Guard members in the District of Columbia have been assisting law enforcement with tasks such as crowd control and patrolling landmarks like the National Mall and Union Station. Their role has been limited thus far, and it remains unclear why additional troops are needed.
On Friday, the city's attorney general sued the administration for appointing the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration as the city’s “emergency police commissioner.” The administration later walked back the move but then issued a follow-up order directing local police to “cooperate fully and completely with federal immigration authorities.”
“D.C. has been under siege from thugs and killers, but now, D.C. is back under Federal Control where it belongs,” Trump wrote on his social media website a day after issuing his order. “The White House is in charge. The Military and our Great Police will liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable, and beautiful once more!”
Federal agents from the DEA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, the Secret Service, and other agencies have patrolled high-traffic areas around the capital over the last week. ICE officers, who work under the Department of Homeland Security, have made arrests in neighborhoods across the city, dispersed some public gatherings, and torn down pro-immigrant signs, according to videos published by the administration.
The White House has touted various arrests that local police and federal agents have made across the city since Trump’s executive order. Federal agents have made 380 arrests in the week since the operation began and, in some cases, issued charges to detained individuals. The White House has celebrated the surge of agents on social media and posted pictures of people arrested by local and federal officers.
“Washington, D.C. is getting safer every night thanks to our law enforcement partners,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media. “Just this weekend, 137 arrests were made and 21 illegal firearms were seized. In total, there have been nearly 400 arrests—and we are not slowing down.”
Amid the crackdown, the administration has received criticism for the conduct of some federal agents, who in several high-profile incidents have arrested people while wearing masks that hide their identities and declined to identify themselves to the media or the public when questioned. Bowser said Monday that she had asked D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith to seek answers from the administration about the use of masked police.
“It’s very important to us that agents be identified,” Bowser said. “There’s no reason for a law enforcement official to be masked.”
On Monday, dozens of protesters gathered in the U Street neighborhood of Washington, where multiple federal agent patrols and arrests had taken place over the weekend, to protest the Trump administration's actions.
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