Washington-National Guard troops began to be moved in Washington on Tuesday night, while President Donald Trump’s plan to use the federal government to repress the crime in the city was beginning to materialize.
About a dozen national guard members appeared in five military vehicles near the monument to Washington at sunset, a striking contrast with the peaceful scene of people running with headphones and strolling with their dogs. An army officer said the troops continued to meet in the DC arsenal and should be positioned around national monuments and near an installation of the US Park police in the Anacostia neighborhood in southeastern Washington.
On Monday, Trump described the country’s capital in apocalyptic terms, such as an infested desert of crimes-a description that ignores the significant drop in crime in the city in the last two years. However, it is still unclear whether the eventual demonstration of force will correspond to the president’s rhetoric.
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The initial implementation near the monument to Washington, at least, often seemed less threatening, with troops taking pictures of themselves with visitors. They set out about two hours after arrival.
“We just made a presence patrol to be among people, to be seen,” said Sergeant Mestre Cory Boroff while near a humvee. “From people, to people in DC,” he added.
Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said on Tuesday that the administration campaign was just beginning. “Next month, Trump administration will tirelessly chase and arrest all violent criminals in the district that violate the law, undermine public safety and endanger Americans who comply with the law,” she said.
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Leavitt pointed out that a federal task force, which includes some local police, held 23 arrests on Monday night related to a series of crimes. FBI director Kash Patel said in a publication on the social platform X on Tuesday night that the FBI participated in 10 arrests. In Washington, a city with about 700,000 inhabitants, the Metropolitan Police Department performs an average of 68 arrests per day, according to authorities.
Muriel Bowser, mayor of Washington, adopted a firm tone on Tuesday night, calling Trump actions “an authoritarian impulse” and an “intrusion into our autonomy.” In a live broadcast on social networks, she denounced Washington’s frightening characterization promoted by Trump, saying that seeing camps of homeless people “triggers something in it that makes him believe that our very beautiful city is dirty, which is not true.”
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