National Guard patrols divide Washington one year into deployment

Thousands of armed National Guard troops have become a daily presence in Washington, D.C., one year after President Donald Trump deployed them to the capital as part of an anti-crime effort that remains contested in court and on city streets.

The deployment began in August 2025, after Trump declared a “crime emergency” and launched the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. Federal officials have since extended the mission through Inauguration Day 2029, and troop levels have grown from about 800 at the start to roughly 4,600 to 4,700 today, according to figures cited by NPR and Al Jazeera.

The troops now patrol busy streets, parks, farmers markets, Metro stations, tourist areas and sites near national monuments. Many are armed with handguns and have been deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service, giving them certain law enforcement powers, though they cannot make arrests. They can detain people.

The mission has drawn protests throughout the year. The advocacy group Free DC organized 11 days of demonstrations that culminated in a protest outside the White House against what it called a “hostile military occupation.” Signs around the city have urged “National Guard Go Home” and “Troops Out.”

“I think Trump should go ahead and let them go home,” Ybonne Coles, a 60-year-old restaurant worker from Washington, told Al Jazeera as soldiers patrolled nearby. “They ain’t doing nothing but walking. That money could go towards organisations to help people that really need help.”

Others say the Guard presence has made them feel safer. Aaron Taslitz, a 30-year-old teacher and bike courier, told Al Jazeera that while he would prefer military resources be used for something more urgent, “For the most part, they’ve kept things peaceful and tranquil here.”

Trump has called Washington “one of the most unsafe cities anywhere in the world” and claimed crime has dropped by 88 percent since the Guard arrived. Studies cited by NPR and Al Jazeera found no significant effect on violent crime, though some reported declines in property crimes or opportunistic crimes such as petty theft and vehicle break-ins. NPR reported that violent crime was at a 30-year low when the deployment began; homicides are down this year, but violent crime is up compared with 2025, according to city data.

Richard Hahn, a co-author of a Niskanen Center report, said Guard patrols were concentrated in high-traffic areas such as the National Mall and Union Station rather than places where violent crime is most concentrated. “They’re not trained police officers,” Hahn said. “The best thing a National Guard member can be, in terms of a crime deterrent, is a sentinel.”

The deployment has also raised legal and constitutional objections. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued the Trump administration, arguing the mission amounted to an illegal use of military force for law enforcement. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb ruled in November to end the deployment, calling it unlawful, but a federal appeals court later allowed it to continue while litigation proceeds. The appeals court said Washington’s status as a federal district gives the president broad control over troop deployments there.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized the use of troops for local policing. “We use the Guard to respond to emergencies. We use the Guard for large-scale events. We do not use the Guard to police our local laws,” she said at an October conference.

Civil liberties groups and former military officials have warned that the mission risks normalizing military involvement in civilian law enforcement. “Armed military personnel standing on the street corners in an American city should never be normal,” Joseph Nunn of the Brennan Center told NPR.

The cost is also mounting. The Congressional Budget Office estimated the deployment costs about $600 per Guard member per day, or roughly $3 million daily at current troop levels. The Pentagon told Congress an extension will cost an additional $1.4 billion, while the Project on Government Oversight estimated the total cost through 2029 at about $3 billion.