
Members of the National Guard Columbia District Patrol along the National Mall on Saturday August 16, 2025, in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
Washington – Three states led by the Republicans said on Saturday that they were deploying hundreds of members of the National Guard in the country’s capital to strengthen the Trump administration’s efforts to revise the police in Washington thanks to a federal repression against crime and homeless.
Virginia-Western said that it deployed 300 to 400 soldiers on duty, while South Carolina has promised 200 and Ohio says that it will send 150 in the coming days, marking a significant escalation of the federal intervention.

The moves occurred while the demonstrators postponed the federal police forces and the national guard troops moving in the strongly democratic city after the executive order of President Donald Trump federalized local police and activating approximately 800 members of the National Guard district of the District of Columbia.
By adding external troops to the existing deployment of the DC guard and the federal presence on the application of the laws, Trump exercises an even tighter control over the city. It is a power game that the president justified as an emergency response to crime and homelessness, even if city officials noted that violent crimes are lower than during Trump’s first term.
Until now, members of the National Guard have played a limited role in federal intervention, and we do not know why additional troops are necessary. They patrolled monuments like the National Mall and Union Station and help the police in tasks, including the control of crowds.
The members of the National Guard come from Virginia-Western, from South Carolina and Ohio
The republican governors of the three states said they were sending hundreds of troops to the request of the Trump administration.

The governor of Virginia-Western, Patrick Morrisey, said that he had led 300 to 400 guard troops to go to Washington, adding that the state “is proud to stay with President Trump in his efforts to restore the pride and beauty of the capital of our country”.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said he authorized the deployment of 200 national guards by state to help the police in Washington at the request of the Pentagon. He noted that if a hurricane or another natural disaster strikes, they would be recalled.
Ohio governor Mike Dewine said that he would send 150 military guard police to “make presence patrols and serve additional security” and that they were to arrive in the coming days. His statement said that the army secretary Dan Driscoll asked for the troops.

The members of the District of Columbia Patrol of the National Guard in front of the White House while a woman passes in front of a scooter on Saturday August 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP photo / Julia Demaoree Nikhinson)
Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
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Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
The activations suggest that the Trump administration sees the need for an additional workforce after the president has personally played the need for Washington to hire more police officers.
The protest repels federal repression in Washington
A protest against Trump’s intervention attracted the scores to Dupont Circle on Saturday before a White House walk, about 1.5 mile from there. Protesters gathered behind a banner who said: “No DC fascist takeover”, and some in the crowd held signs saying: “No military occupation”.
Morgan Taylor, one of the protest organizers, said that they hoped to trigger enough counterposter for Trump’s actions that the administration is forced to resume its crime and immigration program.
“It’s hot, but I’m happy to be here. It’s good to see all these people here,” she said. “I can’t believe it happens in this country right now.”
Funding the demonstrations were concerns about Trump’s overtaking and that he had used crime as a pretext to impose his will on Washington.
John Finnigan, 55, was a bicycle ride when he met the demonstration in downtown Washington. The director of real estate construction who has lived in the capital for 27 years said that Trump’s movements were “ridiculous” because crime is down.
“I hope that some mayors and some residents will go out in front of him and try to make it more difficult than this in other cities,” said Finnigan.
Jamie Dickstein, a 24 -year -old teacher, said that she was “very uncomfortable and worried” for security or her students given the “unmarked officers of all types” who now wander in Washington and the detention of people.
Dickstein said she had proven the demonstration with friends and parents to “prevent a continuous domino effect in the future with other cities”.
The rise of the Federal police forces in Washington attracts mixed reactions
Federal agents appeared in some of the most victims of the city, which obtains a mixture of praise, hindsight and alarm of residents and local leaders across the country.
The city leaders, who are forced to cooperate with the order of Trump under federal laws which direct the local governance of the district, sought to work with the administration, although they have bristled the scope of the takeover of the president.
On Friday, the administration canceled the course on an order which aimed to place the chief of the Drug Encompement Administration as “Emergency Police Commissioner” after the best lawyer in the district continued.
After a court hearing, Trump Prosecutor General Pam Bondi published a service note leading the Metropolitan Police Service to cooperate with the Federal Immigration Application, whatever the city’s law.
City officials say they assess how to best comply with
In his order on Monday, Trump declared an emergency due to “the inability of the city government to maintain public order”. He said that it hampered “the ability of the federal government to operate effectively to respond to the wider interests of the country without fear that our workers were subject to rampant violence”.
In a letter to residents of the city, mayor Muriel Bowser, a democrat, wrote that “our limited autonomy has never faced the type of test we are confronted with at the moment”.
She added that if Washington residents stay together, “we will show the whole nation what it looks like fighting for American democracy – even when we do not have fully access.”