West Virginia will send roughly 300 to 400 of its National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., as the federal government intensifies its role with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), the state’s governor announced Friday. The move comes less than a week after President Donald Trump ordered hundreds of National Guard troops to the nation’s capital in a bid to clean up the city’s crime, which currently stands at a 30-year low.
‘[Restoring] pride and beauty to our nation’s capital’
In a post on X on Saturday, Gov. Patrick Morrisey wrote, “At the request of the Trump administration, I have directed the @WVNationalGuard to support the President’s initiative to make D.C. safe and beautiful.” Morrisey added that the deployment of 300 to 400 “skilled personnel” reflects West Virginia’s “commitment to a strong and secure America.”
Trump initially announced his plans to utilize the National Guard in Washington during a press conference on Monday. This, despite statistics from both the Justice Department and MPD suggesting that crime in the city is at historic lows.
According to a press release, the West Virginia National Guard (WVNG) deployment, which is federally funded, not only includes several hundred personnel but also “mission-essential equipment [and] specialized training.”
“West Virginia is proud to stand with President Trump in his effort to restore pride and beauty to our nation’s capital,” Morrisey said in the press release. “The men and women of our National Guard represent the best of our state, and this mission reflects our shared commitment to a strong and secure America.”
Similarly, West Virginia Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Jim Seward, who oversees the WVNG, said, “This initiative aligns with our values of service and dedication to our communities,” adding, “We stand ready to support our partners in the National Capital Region and contribute to the collective effort of making our nation’s capital a clean and safe environment.”
How have local leaders responded?
State Rep. Mike Pushkin, who also chairs the West Virginia Democratic Party, told Straight Arrow News that he and his colleagues “have the utmost respect for the men and women of the West Virginia National Guard.” However, he went on to add, “but let’s be honest—this deployment has nothing to do with public safety and everything to do with Donald Trump staging a stunt for his base.”
The statement continued: “The murder rate in Washington, D.C. was higher in his last year in office in 2020, and he did nothing. In fact, the Justice Department just bragged about how crime in D.C. has dropped dramatically this year. This is pure political theater—a smokescreen to distract from Trump’s broken promise to release the Epstein files and the fact that his idea of justice for Ghislaine Maxwell, who trafficked children, was to ‘wish her well.’ If Trump was serious about protecting the public, he’d start by coming clean about Epstein instead of sending our Guard members to play extras in his campaign photo-ops.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, Mayor Muriel Bowser and MPD Chief Pamela Smith have both pledged to work with federal troops in the city and criticized Trump’s decision to send them in the first place.
On Tuesday, Bowser described the National Guard’s presence as “an intrusion on our autonomy.” On the other hand, Smith said, “We know that we have to get illegal guns off of our streets, and if we have this influx or enhanced presence, it’s going to make our city even better.”
Smith also issued an executive order authorizing MPD officers to assist federal immigration agencies in specific ways, even though Washington is a sanctuary city with laws limiting local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
‘More than 700 federal law enforcement personnel’
As with Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles earlier this summer, the National Guard in Washington is not authorized to make arrests. “The National Guard will protect federal assets, create a safe environment for law enforcement officials to carry out their duties when required, and provide a visible presence to deter crime,” a White House official told CNN.
CNN also obtained an internal Secret Service memo in which the agency’s director, Sean Curran, mentions that “More than 700 federal law enforcement personnel are supporting the effort every day,” adding, “That number is expected to increase as more National Guard troops join the safe streets initiative.”
This is in line with remarks Trump made at the White House Monday, including that he had “surged 500 federal agents into the district, including from the FBI, ATF, DEA, Park Police, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Secret Service, and the Department of Homeland Security.”
During an interview on “CNN Newsroom” Saturday, D.C. Councilmember Robert White said, “I’m startled like most district residents and many Americans. President Trump is breaching democratic norms” by sending in the Guard to address crime and the area’s unhoused population.
This article was updated Aug. 16 to include a statement from State Rep. Mike Pushkin.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Drew Pittock
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://straightarrownews.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
