A whole lot of West Virginia Nationwide Guard members will deploy throughout the nation’s capital as a part of the Trump administration’s effort to overtake policing within the District of Columbia by means of a federal crackdown on crime and homelessness.
The transfer comes as federal brokers and Nationwide Guard troops have begun to seem throughout the closely Democratic metropolis after President Trump’s govt order on Monday, federalizing native police forces and activating about 800 D.C. Nationwide Guard troops.
Republican West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey introduced Saturday that he was sending a contingent of 300 to 400 members.
“West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital,” Morrisey stated.
By including outdoors troops to affix the prevailing Nationwide Guard deployment and federal legislation enforcement officers briefly assigned to Washington, Mr. Trump is exercising even tighter management over town. It’s an influence play that the president has justified as an emergency response to crime and homelessness, although district officers have famous that violent crime is decrease than it was throughout Trump’s first time period in workplace.
Vacationers with baggage move by Nationwide Guard members as they arrive at Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15, 2025. The D.C. lawyer common has sued the Trump over what he referred to as a “hostile takeover” of town’s police power, which the Republican president stated was essential to battle violent crime. Earlier this week, Trump positioned the capital’s Metropolitan Police Division below federal authorities management whereas additionally deploying 800 Nationwide Guard troops.
JIM WATSON/AFP through Getty Pictures
A protest towards Mr. Trump’s intervention drew scores to Dupont Circle on Saturday afternoon earlier than a march to the White Home, about 1.5 miles away. Demonstrators assembled behind a banner that stated “No fascist takeover of D.C.,” and a few within the crowd held indicators that stated “No military occupation.” Mr. Trump was at his Virginia golf membership after Friday’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
The West Virginia activation additionally suggests the administration sees the necessity for added manpower after the president personally performed down the necessity for Washington to rent extra cops.
Maj. Gen. James Seward, West Virginia’s adjutant common, stated in a press release that members of the state’s Nationwide Guard “stand ready to support our partners in the National Capital Region” and that the Guard’s “unique capabilities and preparedness make it an invaluable partner in this important undertaking.”
Federal brokers have appeared in among the metropolis’s most extremely trafficked neighborhoods, garnering a mixture of reward, pushback and alarm from native residents and leaders throughout the nation.
Metropolis leaders, who’re obliged to cooperate with the president’s order below the federal legal guidelines that direct the district’s native governance, have sought to work with the administration, although they’ve bristled on the scope of the president’s takeover.
On Friday, the administration reversed course on an order that aimed to position the top of the Drug Enforcement Administration as an “emergency police commissioner” after the district’s prime lawyer sued to contest. After a court docket listening to, Legal professional Normal Pam Bond issued a memo that directed the Metropolitan Police Division to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement no matter any metropolis legislation.
District officers say they’re evaluating easy methods to finest comply.
In his order on Monday, Mr. Trump declared an emergency because of the “city government’s failure to maintain public order.” He stated that impeded the “federal government’s ability to operate efficiently to address the nation’s broader interests without fear of our workers being subjected to rampant violence.”
In a letter to metropolis residents, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, wrote that “our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now.” She added that if Washingtonians stick collectively, “we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy — even when we don’t have full access to it.”
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