President Donald Trump will double the number of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., this week after boasting significant success in his plan to clean up crime in the nation's capital, The Hill reported. The governors of Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, and West Virginia have committed additional troops to the effort.
After issuing an executive order declaring a "crime emergency," the president sent hundreds of National Guard troops to assist the local Washington, D.C., police. Trump also authorized federal agents from the FBI, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help with the task.
The move was touted by the military publication Stars and Stripes, which shared a video to X, formerly Twitter, on Monday showing the operation. "WEEK 1: National Guard in DC. All 800 troops are now patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., with additional service members from other states expected to arrive in the capital soon," the caption read.
WEEK 1: National Guard in DC
All 800 troops are now patrolling the streets of Washington, D.C., with additional troops from other states expected to arrive in the capital soon.
Watch this video for details ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/kQfKLdFODr
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) August 18, 2025
There will soon be an additional 200 troops from Mississippi, 150 from Ohio, 200 from South Carolina, and 300 to 400 from West Virginia, following pledges from their respective leaders. "Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it," Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves explained in a statement on Monday about his move to commit his soldiers.
This comes just after Trump announced earlier this month that he would "take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN!" the president said on his Truth Social, the New York Post reported. "Before the tents, squalor, filth, and crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the world. It will soon be that again," Trump wrote.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said Trump's crackdown was "quickly making our nation’s capital safer" with the beefed-up law enforcement. "In less than ten days, over 300 dangerous criminals have already been arrested and taken off the streets of Washington, D.C.," Rogers noted.
"President Trump is delivering on his campaign promise to clean up this city and restore American Greatness to our cherished capital," Rogers added. This weekend alone yielded 68 arrests, many for violent crimes, including an assault against a police officer, just on Saturday night.
The additional law enforcement also took 15 illegal firearms off the streets and dismantled three homeless encampments without incident. However, some are not so enamored with Trump's use of the military and federal law enforcement and his commitment to allowing them to be armed.
Opponents of this move cite the fact that the crime rate has fallen and assert that this move is unnecessary, including Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, who claims Trump is wrong about the city's crime status. "We don’t have any authority over the D.C. Guard or any other guards, but I think it makes the point that this is not about D.C. crime," Bowser claimed.
“The focus should be on violent crime. Nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence. And so if this is really about immigration enforcement, the administration should make that plain," the Democratic mayor further remarked.
Republican Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has also "politely declined" to send his Vermont National Guard service members to the nation's capital. "While public safety is a legitimate concern in cities across the country and certainly in the nation’s capital, in the absence of an immediate emergency or disaster that local and regional first responders are unable to handle, the governor just does not support utilizing the guard for this purpose, and does not view the enforcement of domestic law as a proper use of the National Guard," Jason Gibbs, Scott’s chief of staff, said Friday.
Gibbs said Scott did not rule out sending some troops should a more immediate emergency break out. "But in this case, because it is being hyperpoliticized, the governor doesn’t feel like — and I believe the vast majority of Vermonters don’t feel like — it would be an acceptable and appropriate use of the National Guard," Gibbs added.
There is no excuse for the nation's capital to be crime-ridden and filled with homeless encampments as it has been for years. The president lives there, and Congress conducts its business in the city, which means it should be the most secure locale in the nation rather than another dystopian nightmare run by Democrats.
