The federal law enforcement surge in D.C. continues, and with new executive orders, President Donald Trump may be indicating that the deployment to fight crime could remain in the nation’s capital and soon stretch into other American cities.
The White House declared a crime emergency in D.C. due to rising crime rates, though the city claims the opposite is true when it comes to crime statistics.
The president has said previously the goal is to “reestablish law, order, and public safety” and the troops will assist D.C. police and other agencies that routinely patrol the city.
In the nation’s capital the president has the power to do this, as the D.C. National Guard is always under presidential control.
“Washington was the most dangerous place in this country, and now, you know what? It’s probably the safest place in our country,” President Trump said from the Oval Office on Monday.
The president also signed an executive order which called for the troops to establish a “specialized” unit, that will focus on public safety missions and enforce federal laws in D.C.
Having the National Guard troops deployed in D.C., even while armed, is something the nation’s capital has seen before, but according to Joseph Nunn, counsel in the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, the use of guard members for day-to-day policing is unprecedented.
Nunn said the deployment being seen today is “directly contrary” to long-standing American traditions when it comes to the use of the guard troops.
He said what is happening in D.C. has “essentially never” been seen before.
“What the National Guard doesn’t have is a history of doing is routine local law enforcement, which is what the White House claims is the principal function of the deployment of the D.C. National Guard and out-of-state National Guard into Washington, D.C.,” Nunn told WTOP.
In recent years, including during protests over the death of George Floyd in 2020, the National Guard was deployed into the city, but Nunn said in that situation there was a pretext of an emergency.
National Guard deployments were also seen during the Ole Miss riot in 1962 and the Los Angeles riots in 1992. Otherwise, Nunn said, in many cases, the U.S. has avoided military involvement in civilian issues.
Nunn said the National Guard is traditionally used for helping with disaster relief or civil unrest, and he said concerns about using the military for policing date back to the founding of the country.
“The founding generation was intensely suspicious of military power, so much so that there were vigorous debates at the Constitutional Convention about whether to even allow for the creation of a national standing army, or to instead rely exclusively on the state militias,” Nunn said.
Nunn said the arming of guard members also comes with risk, since deploying them unarmed stems back to the 1970 killing of four college students during a war protest at Kent State University. But, he added, today’s military is well disciplined and well trained.
“I don’t think that, given the sort of current state of the United States military, something like Kent State is particularly likely in 2025, but it’s not a risk you want to take either,” Nunn said.
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