WASHINGTON – National Guard troops will be on the streets of Washington, D.C., until the end of the year, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
The memo, signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and dated Wednesday, said “the conditions of the mission” warranted an extension past the end of next month to continue supporting President Donald Trump’s “ongoing efforts to restore law and order.”
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Meanwhile, Trump has at least temporarily dropped his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, which had provoked legal challenges. He also backed off a bit Friday from his threat a day earlier to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to quell protests in Minnesota.
Since Washington is a congressionally established federal district, as president, Trump has much greater control over the police and D.C. National Guard, which he can control directly. This has enabled him to sidestep the legal challenges that he has faced in some states.
Trump activated 800 members of the D.C. National Guard in August under an emergency order. Those numbers were quickly augmented by troops from states run by Republican governors.
There are currently about 2,600 National Guard troops in Washington, with about 700 from D.C. and the rest from 11 states, including Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Oklahoma.
The mission was quickly broadened from its initial crime-fighting mandate to city beautification. In one of its last updates, the task force overseeing the mission said that in early October troops cleared 1,150 bags of trash, spread 1,045 cubic yards of mulch, removed 50 truckloads of plant waste, cleared 7.9 miles of roadway, painted 270 feet of fencing and pruned 400 trees.
Two National Guard troops from West Virginia that were part of the mission in D.C. were shot the day before Thanksgiving. Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries.
In addition to his efforts to put troops into Chicago and Portland, Trump federalized National Guard troops to go into Los Angeles in June, when protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests. Ultimately, he deployed about 4,000 troops and 700 Marines to guard federal buildings and, later, to protect federal agents as they carried out immigration arrests.
The force dwindled over time and was ultimately removed from the streets in December after a judge ordered control of the California National Guard be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. A federal appellate court upheld the decision.
On Dec. 31, Trump said he was dropping his push, for now, to expand the effort to other cities.