The White House plans to activate around 800 National Guard troops in Washington to support local law enforcement, according to a senior defense official.
They will assist with logistics, transportation, and guarding facilities, similar to the role the California National Guard performed this summer in Los Angeles. The move comes as President Donald Trump pledges to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital, despite a decline in recent years.
Trump, who has claimed the crime in Washington is “totally out of control,” is expected to announce the move at a Monday press conference.
The troops will not have arrest authority, but a military police unit may play some role in detaining suspects while waiting for local law enforcement to make an arrest, the official said.
The exact role of the troops has yet to be fully spelled out by the White House, and the Army and Pentagon are working on the details. But a second military official said they expect the deployment to look much like the California deployment.
Although crime in Washington hit a 30-year low last year, the president in recent days has seized on violence against a Trump administration staffer to cast the city as dangerous, pledging earlier Monday that “Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will DISAPPEAR.” Last week, Trump deployed federal law enforcement throughout the city. In February, he floated a federal takeover of Washington.
