Governors from six Republican-led states are sending hundreds of troops to Washington, DC, bolstering United States President Donald Trump’s aggressive move to flood the city with soldiers and federal agents in what he says is an effort to fight violent crime.
The move comes as the Trump administration this week ordered federal prosecutors in Washington, DC, to be more aggressive in pursuing criminal cases against people arrested as part of a crackdown in the nation’s capital, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.
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The Republican governors of Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee said on Monday they were deploying troops to Washington, days after the Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio also did so at the Trump administration’s request.
On August 11, Trump announced a temporary federal takeover of the DC police force, saying he was sending 800 federal DC National Guard members to staunch what he called a crime emergency – though crime in the nation’s capital has been dropping.
The federal government also dispatched agents from numerous agencies, including the FBI, to patrol the city’s streets. Following a legal challenge filed by the city’s attorney general, the administration negotiated a deal with Mayor Muriel Bowser to keep Police Chief Pamela Smith in charge of the department’s operations.
On Monday, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he had approved the deployment of about 135 Guard soldiers to Washington, while Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said he had ordered 200 soldiers to the capital. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has also deployed 160 Guard troops to the city, according to local media reports.
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“We cannot allow our cities to be overcome by violence and lawlessness,” Governor Landry said in a post on X. “I am proud to support this mission to return safety and sanity to Washington, DC and cities all across our country, including right here in Louisiana.”
Days earlier, West Virginia promised 300-400 troops; South Carolina, 200; and Ohio, 150.
In total, the six Republican states have announced deployments of more than 1,100 Guard troops to Washington.
Trump has justified his takeover by pointing to the city’s high crime rates; though data from the city shows a 30 percent drop from 2023 to 2024, which has continued to fall.
The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into whether police officials in Washington, DC, have falsified crime data, according to a source familiar with the probe who spoke to The Associated Press and was not authorised to publicly discuss an open investigation.
It was not immediately clear what federal laws could have been violated by the possible manipulation of crime data.
The mayor’s office declined to comment on the matter.
The New York Times was the first to report on the investigation on Tuesday. Earlier this year, a Metropolitan Police Department commander suspected of manipulating crime data was placed on paid administrative leave, NBC Washington reported.
Maximised federal charges and arming of troops
The head of the criminal division of the Washington, DC, US Attorney’s Office, Jonathan Hornok, on Monday told prosecutors to charge as many federal cases as possible against people arrested in the sweeps, according to sources who spoke with Reuters on the condition of anonymity.
The move could both strain the court system and raise the stakes for criminal defendants because convictions for federal crimes can carry weighty sentences, said the people.
“In line with President Trump’s directive to make DC safe, US Attorney [Jeanine] Pirro has made it clear that the old way of doing things is unacceptable. She directed her staff to charge the highest crime that is supported by the law and the evidence,” a spokesperson for Pirro’s office said on Tuesday.
In what could also heighten tensions on the streets, the capital has been informed about the National Guard’s plan to be armed. However, it has not received details about when that could happen or where armed Guard members could be deployed in the District, according to a person familiar who was not authorised to disclose the plans and spoke to The AP on the condition of anonymity.
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It would be a departure from what the Pentagon and Army have said about the troops being unarmed. The Army said in a statement last week that “weapons are available if needed but will remain in the armoury.”
Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson also said 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 DC Guard, did not provide more details and said “their presence is focused on supporting civil authorities and ensuring the safety of the community they serve.”
Critics maintain crackdown is ‘political theatre’
The extraordinary deployment of the National Guard in Washington, DC comes two months after Trump sent thousands of troops into Los Angeles to quell protests against an immigration crackdown. He has threatened similar takeovers of New York, Chicago, and LA.
Legal challenges have mounted over the deployments, which experts have argued are a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally bars the National Guard and other branches of the US military from being used in civilian law enforcement.
Critics have called the deployment little more than performative, intended to be a distraction from more pressing issues.
“The Trump administration’s overreach is not going to make Washington, DC safer and is dangerous political theatre that imperils democracy in the nation’s capital and beyond,” the Centre for American Progress said in a statement.
Despite the administration’s insistence that troops are needed to clean up crime, it’s not clear that the federal takeover has resulted in increased enforcement.
Some 465 arrests have been made in the 12 days since the Trump administration’s operations began, US Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on X on Tuesday, an average of 39 arrests a day.
By comparison, however, the city’s Metropolitan Police Department arrested an average of 61 adults and juveniles per day in 2024, according to city statistics.
Data published by restaurant-booking service OpenTable this week reservations plummeting nearly 18 percent since the takeover, despite Trump’s statement on Monday that people felt safer and over the previous two days, restaurants “were busier than they’ve been in a long time.”
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