Eight months after President Donald Trump’s announcement Crime emergency in the nation’s capital And calling in the National Guard, more than 2,500 troops are still deployed, a deployment that continues to grow with no clear end in sight.
Deployment to other cities has ended or has been Blocked by courts in California and IllinoisWhile more limited operations continue in cities including New Orleans. But in Washington, Guard members still walk city streets and patrol subway stations, tourist attractions, neighborhoods and parks.
Even with important elections looming this year, that lingering presence has barely been mentioned in city council meetings or by candidates running for mayor and Congress—perhaps reflecting competing priorities and the feeling that local officials have little power to stop it. Unless the courts intervene, at least security will be maintained end of yearIf not for much longer.
“Taxpayers are Paying over a million dollars a day Tell them to move around,” District of Columbia Council President Phil Mendelson said in an emailed response to questions.
And, he added, “The presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look.”
Indefinite deployment continues to drag on
Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order In August to deal with what he called a crime emergency. The order also included hundreds of additional federal law enforcement officers as well as the Guard.
Over the past few months, Guard members have responded to medical emergencies, assisted in arrests, helped local police enforce the city’s teen curfew and implemented beautification projects. DC Guard helps remove snow during a major storm in January.
While Guard members do not make arrests, the Trump administration argues that their support for the broader mission has helped reduce crime. The White House said 12,000 arrests have been made by the task force since the operation began, including 62 known gang members, and thousands of illegal firearms have been seized.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the President’s crime task force in the city “has produced tremendous results for local communities.”
“Every local leader should copy this success in their own areas,” Jackson said.
But officials disagree over how much credit can be given to the deployment in the heavily Democratic city of Washington. Statistics show that crime was already declining, although those figures are being examined later. Claims raised against local police It is possible that they may have been tampered with.
a court battle The over-guard deployment is ongoing, and may continue without a judge’s intervention for as long as the White House wishes.
Asked how long the Guard deployment would continue, Jackson said in an email that he had “no announcements to make.”
The office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, which is challenging the deployment in court, declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The Pentagon’s National Guard Bureau did not respond to requests for comment.
Guard’s presence missing from public discussion
mayor Muriel Bowserwho is not running for re-election walked a good line At one point he appeared to work with the President on Guard deployments and broader federal intervention, but also pushed back on some of his demands, such as local cooperation for immigration enforcement.
Bowser and the leading candidate to replace the city’s 18-term non-voting representative in Congress, eleanor holmes nortonHas focused on trying to hold federal agencies accountable for their role in affordability, statehood, and growth.
The District Council, which includes at least four candidates for mayor or representative, unanimously approved the measure to increase transparency in federal law enforcement operations. Although military deployment has been mentioned several times on campaign websites and advertisements, it is not currently a central campaign issue.
Other pressures on the city, including unemployment and loss of revenue associated with cuts in the federal workforce, have taken priority. The city primaries are June 16, as well as a special election for an at-large City Council seat.
Some residents say frustrations with the guards eased after two members of the West Virginia contingent ambushed Not far from the White House, 20-year-old specialist Sarah Beckstrom was killed and her colleague was seriously injured.
Kevin Cataldo, a neighborhood commissioner who recently joined the local Metropolitan Police in his neighborhood on Walkalong, said he has already treated Guard members politely, making a point of accepting them because they have not chosen to live in the city. The ambush and firing deepened his sympathy for them. “That was horrible,” he said.
District Council member Brian Nadeau said constituents are constantly asking why the Guard is still around, but complaints are far fewer than at the beginning of the deployment.
“It would be great if the federal government would use its money and resources to help the District with the things we need help with and not act like an invasion army,” Nadeau said in an email.
Fellow council members and mayoral candidates Janise Louise George and Kenyon McDuffie have raised similar issues, including high costs.
There has been little public polling, especially recently, on attitudes toward the presence of uniformed personnel in American cities.
With DC’s limited autonomy, pushback is a challenge
Keya Chatterjee, co-founder and executive director of Free DC, an advocacy group fighting for city autonomy, said several groups are planning protests and other events on May 1 to oppose the federal surge, including the continued National Guard presence. Among the goals: “An end to the military occupation of DC before the June elections.”
Chatterjee said that normalizing the Guard’s presence makes it easier to suppress dissent and “tilt the playing field” in elections.
Chatterjee said the presence of guns and military personnel could create an intimidating atmosphere during elections. Citizens have to step up and “number one, we have to help our neighbors feel safe voting.”
Scott Michelman, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, said the situation underscores the city’s limits on self-governance.
Washington is a federal district with limited autonomy where Congress has the authority to review city laws and control its budget and where the President has direct control of the D.C. Guard and can authorize indefinite military deployments with little effective resistance from local officials.
“We must have local control and local democratic accountability for the people who enforce our laws,” Michelman said. “DC is uniquely powerless in our system in many ways.”
___
This story has been corrected to show that the Free DC co-founder’s surname is spelled Chatterjee, not Chatterjee.
<a href=