Three more Republican-led states sent National Guard troops to the District amid President Trump’s declared emergency over lawlessness.
The governors of Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee deployed nearly 500 additional guardsmen to the federal city, bringing the number of out-of-state troops to well over 1,000.
“We are a nation of law and order. Our capital is a reflection of our nation’s respect, beauty and standards,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry wrote Monday on social media. “We cannot allow our cities to be overcome by violence and lawlessness. I am proud to support this mission to return safety and sanity to Washington DC and cities all across our country, including right here in Louisiana.”
They join prior deployments from Ohio, South Carolina and West Virginia, with those soldiers stationed alongside 800 members of the D.C. National Guard. The White House said some of the troops will be armed.
The guardsmen are largely patrolling the National Mall and Union Station — two tourist-heavy parts of town that have little relation to the city’s violent crime problems — though the soldiers have been seen walking around Metro stations such as Foggy Bottom in Northwest and NoMa/Gallaudet in Northeast.
The deployments follow Mr. Trump’s federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department this month to root out violent crime and address public disorder, such as homeless encampments.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that federal authorities have arrested 465 people since the operations began taking place around the city. She added that suspects have been taken into custody on homicide, illegal gun, drug and immigration offenses, with 68 guns seized.
She said Monday night’s enforcement sweep included the arrest of an MS-13 gang member.
“Nearly half of these arrests occurred in the high-crime areas of DC,” Ms. Bondi wrote on X. “Residents and tourists alike appreciate this extraordinary effort by our DC and Federal law enforcement partners.”
A day earlier, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser bristled at the federal arrest numbers by noting a beefier Metropolitan Police Department would be able to deliver the same results.
D.C. police have 3,100 sworn officers on duty, a 50-year low for the department.
“MPD takes guns off the street every day and every week, and any time you have a surge of officers, I would expect that you have some results,” Ms. Bowser, a Democrat, said.
“I say repeatedly, we need 500 more officers in D.C. With 500 more officers, you get 500 more officers’ worth of results. What is not necessary, however, is this kind of … attempted commandeering of the force itself and this expanded work that is not related to violence.”
The mayor’s comment about “expanded work” was a reference to federal agents making immigration-related arrests during the takeover. Some reports suggest that half of the 465 arrests touted by White House officials are over migrants and not for violent crime.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith issued an order last week letting city police cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a limited capacity.
The order lets MPD officers notify ICE when they encounter an illegal immigrant during a traffic stop and can help transport migrants held in federal custody.
D.C. police officers still can’t make arrests on immigration offenses for the feds, and they can’t share when a migrant who was arrested for a crime is set to be released from jail.
Ms. Bowser and the D.C. Council have cited what they say is a 30-year low in violent crime in opposing Mr. Trump’s takeover. In 2023, the District experienced its worst crime wave of the century when deadly shootings, rampant carjackings and scores of armed robberies rocked the city.
Mr. Trump calls the updated crime numbers unreliable, saying a higher-up in MPD was cooking the numbers to make the District look safer than it is.
He contends that the capital has some of the highest rates of murder and car theft in the nation.
Mr. Trump’s emergency declaration can last only 30 days. Republican lawmakers have proposed bills to extend the temporary powers in Congress, but the chances of the bills passing are slim since they would require Democratic support.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.