Governors from three Republican-led states announced over the weekend that they would send hundreds of National Guard members to Washington, D.C., in support of President Donald Trump’s federal deployment already underway in the capital. The move nearly doubles the size of the Guard presence in the city, escalating a controversial takeover of local policing that has sparked sharp political and public backlash.
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said his state would contribute between 300 and 400 troops, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster pledged 200, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine committed 150 Guard members. “To support President Trump in his mission to restore law and order to our nation’s capital,” McMaster said in a statement, adding that South Carolina troops would return home if an emergency arose in the state. Morrisey described the decision as both a response to Trump’s request and an example of “regional cooperation.”
The reinforcements will join the 800 Guard troops already stationed in the district under Trump’s emergency powers order last week, which gave the federal government control of the D.C. police department and authorized the deployment of military and federal law enforcement. Trump justified the move by claiming the capital was engulfed in “bloodshed, bedlam and squalor,” though experts and local leaders dispute that characterization.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been outspoken against the federal takeover, did not directly address the new Guard deployments but wrote on X Saturday: “American soldiers and airmen policing American citizens on American soil is #UnAmerican.”
The developments come after a failed attempt by the Trump Administration to replace Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Chief Pamela Smith with Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance C. Cole as “emergency police commissioner.” A federal judge blocked the maneuver, leaving Smith in charge of MPD’s daily operations. Still, Bowser and city officials remain bound by Trump’s emergency order, which requires cooperation with federal directives.
Trump has signaled that Washington may be the first of several cities placed under federal control, mentioning New York, Baltimore, and Oakland as potential next targets. “They’re so far gone,” Trump said. “This will go further. We’re starting very strongly with D.C.”
Alongside the National Guard, federal agencies including the U.S. Park Police, FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Marshals Service, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been deployed on night patrols across the capital. Authorities have established checkpoints throughout the city, and nearly 200 arrests have been reported in the first week. ICE alone has detained 75 people, underscoring the administration’s use of the takeover to advance aggressive immigration enforcement policies since Trump’s return to office in January.
Despite federal claims of rampant disorder, city officials note that crime in Washington has declined over the past two years, following a surge in 2023. Critics argue that the administration’s sweeping actions represent an overreach of executive power that undermines the district’s self-governance and civil liberties.