Washington– The Washington, D.C., National Guard will be deployed in the nation’s capital through the end of February, according to official orders reviewed by The Associated Press.
The official order, dated Nov. 4, extends the original order effective Aug. 11 and says Guard members will be in the city until at least Feb. 28. The order states that the additional duty is in response to the state of emergency declared by President Donald Trump in August, and under direction from the “Secretary of War to protect federal property and jobs in the District of Columbia and to support federal and district law enforcement.”
Hundreds of National Guard troops have been in Washington since August, which triggered what Trump said was Crime fighting mission This also included the federal takeover of the local police department. This request It ended in September But nearly 2,000 National Guard troops from D.C. and at least eight states remain in the city, with most units saying they plan to withdraw by the end of November.
The D.C. National Guard is the largest single troop contributor with 949 soldiers making up the 2,375-strong task force. West Virginia is the second-largest state contributing troops to the task force with 416 guardsmen.
Some of them were armed and provided a military presence in public places, especially in federal parks around the city and in subway stations as well as the Amtrak train station.
The National Guard task force appears to have spent a significant portion of its time on yard work and landscaping efforts around the nation’s capital. In an update provided in early October, task force officials boasted that troops had removed 1,150 bags of trash, spread 1,045 cubic yards of mulch, removed 50 truckloads of plant waste, cleared 7.9 miles of roadway, painted 270 feet of fencing, and trimmed 400 trees. Since then, most daily updates from the task force have provided only new troop numbers and no summaries of beautification efforts.
One piece of the Capital Guard Worked with various neighborhoods on beautification efforts at the request of local neighborhood officials and residents.
The presence of Guard members in the city is an ongoing topic lawsuitwas filed by D.C. Attorney Brian Schwalb on September 4 challenging the Trump administration’s use of the National Guard in the heavily Democratic city. That suit Filings raised by 45 states With 23 supporters of the Trump administration and 22 allied with Washington. The Trump administration said he has full authority to deploy guard forces in Washington because he is the designated commander of the D.C. Guard.
In court papers Schwalb filed seeking to remove the Guard from the city, documents indicated there were plans for the D.C. Guard to remain in the city at least until next summer. U.S. District Judge Gia Cobb, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, heard arguments on Oct. 24 on Schwalb’s request but did not reach a decision.
It is unclear how long the other states, which currently include Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama, will keep their forces deployed in the task force in Washington. Many states They told the AP they intend to end their deployments by Nov. 30 but noted that it also depends on whether orders are issued to extend their deployments. The order did not mention other states.