A “Cleanup Crew?” The National Guard Becomes a Fixture of DC Life
- James Neuroth
- Nov 2
- 3 min read
President Trump’s thirty-day emergency takeover of D.C. has ended, but the National Guard is here to stay. Since Trump declared a “public safety emergency” on D.C. crime in August, more than 2000 National Guard troops have been patrolling around the city, costing about $1 million per day. The Guard will be in DC for the foreseeable future, as the only condition for their removal in Trump’s executive order is when the “conditions of law and order have been restored.”
Additionally, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser has extended the deployment of the National Guard, and they are now not limited by the public safety emergency. Bowser is allowing Trump to keep the guard in D.C. for as long as he wants, and as of now the Guard likely will stay until at least November or December.
Due to their noticeable presence walking around the city and patrolling popular areas, many Walls students have come in contact with them at metro stations. Marco Pinson (‘28) said “They’re at most of the Metro stations that I go to, between my house and school, so I see them very often.” He hasn’t seen them doing much, though; when asked, he said he sees them “mostly just standing around.”
Addis Getachew (‘27) supported Pinson’s sentiment and added that she even observed positive interactions, such as “one [who] once [paid] for somebody's Metro fare [...] and then I [saw] them picking up trash.”
Although she’s had no negative experiences with the guard, Getachew affirmed that their very presence is worrisome. “Trump exaggerated the crime rate in DC,” she said. “Law enforcement is [not] what we need.” Instead, she suggested that DC could more productively address crime through public programs, such as housing programs.
According to Pinson, the city is “less secure with [the National Guard]” as President Trump has “created an influx of military vehicles in our streets.” As he puts it, “Stricter policing has never made D.C. crime go down.”
The Rookery interviewed National Guard troops stationed around the city. The group of troops interviewed was with the Georgia state guard and their mission was relatively new. One guardsman said, “We have been here for a little over a week now. The other states, they’ve been out here for two months.”
Another guardsman commented, “As of now, [we leave] around November or December time.”
Since the National Guard is here to address security concerns, The Rookery asked them about what policing they do in DC. “We’re not really law enforcement so we don’t really detain anybody,” explained a guardsman.
“We will walk around [D.C.] streets; we have a bunch of these locations picked out,” said another.
It’s important to distinguish the different types of National Guard troops patrolling the city. While some, like the Georgia troops, are here to lower crime, others are what the troops call the “cleanup crew.” They are almost entirely guard from DC, and “they’re cleaning up, making the area a little more beautiful,” says one Georgia guardsman.
The Guard’s presence in DC has faced fierce pushback from the DC City Council and many other Democratic lawmakers, while Republican governors are set on sending in their own National Guard to DC. Nationwide, the view on this subject is varied, and even the National Guard troops themselves have relatively mixed opinions. From either side of the political spectrum, though, they are here to stay in DC. With President Trump’s extended executive order, the guardsmen will stay here for as long as he wants.
