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The Trump administration’s deployment of the National Guard to D.C. has cost taxpayers more than $330 million, and that figure could nearly double if personnel remain in the District through the end of the year, according to a new congressional report.
The report from Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee also states there is no measurable evidence to show whether the presence of National Guard personnel is making D.C. safer.
Guard personnel have been deployed in the District since last August, when President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency and placed the D.C. police department under federal control.
“While combating crime must be a priority at all levels of government, it is not clear that the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on deploying the National Guard, purportedly to support this effort, is effective in making the nation’s capital any safer,” the report states.
Crime has gone down during the Guard’s deployment, but D.C. leaders have pointed out it was trending downward before the president’s declaration.
How long will Guard personnel remain in DC?
The length of the Guard’s deployment remains open-ended and is now expected to extend through at least July, when Washington celebrates the America 250 commemoration of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
But various officials have indicated that Guard personnel could remain in D.C. through the end of the year.
If that happens, the report states the cost to taxpayers will be on track to exceed more than $600 million. That is more than the entire budget for D.C. police, which is $599 million for fiscal year 2026.
More than 2,000 service members from several states are deployed in the District.
Supporters of the deployment, including Republican members of Congress, say Guard personnel have helped make the city safer by being a visible presence.
Before winter set in, Guard members were involved in a lot of activities related to “beautification” of the nation’s capital, painting fences, pruning trees and spreading mulch.
While they are armed, they are not allowed to make arrests. Guard leaders told lawmakers they have been involved in helping to deal with scuffles on the National Mall.
Two members of the West Virginia National Guard were shot by a gunman just blocks from the White House last year. One of them died and another was seriously injured.
The report concludes with questions about the effectiveness of the mission and the deployment of Guard members to help deal with crime.
The report states “it remains unclear, for the price of $332 million (and counting), whether the National Guard has actually made D.C.’s streets safer,” and whether resources would be better spent on their “normal missions,” including responding to disasters across the country.
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