Trump’s DC takeover has no end in sight
- Mon, Mar 9 2026 at 10:13 AM
The Hill: “DC National Guard deployment costs more than $1M per day, has no public safety impact."
According to a report released by Senators Andy Kim and Gary Peters, President Trump’s deployment of the DC National Guard is costing taxpayers more than $1 million per day.
Senator Kim said the Trump administration’s decision to deploy the National Guard in DC has “no clear strategy, no evidence of effectiveness, and no end in sight."
Trump has claimed that the National Guard was needed to address a “crime emergency” in DC. Instead, they have been picking up trash, shoveling mulch at parks near the White House, and patrolling national monuments.
Despite all of this, a memo signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll in January said “the conditions of the mission” warranted an extension, and the National Guard will remain in DC until the end of 2026.
Mark, this is a blatant misuse of the military and a startling escalation of federal overreach—and the American people deserve answers.
Following Trump’s declaration of a crime emergency in DC in August, his administration federalized the Metropolitan Police Department, activated the National Guard, and mobilized law enforcement from twelve federal agencies to patrol the city.
For months, uniformed troops and federal officials have been deployed throughout DC with very little transparency concerning their activities. This takeover is completely unnecessary and baseless, tramples DC Home Rule, costs taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and undermines democracy in the process—and there is no end in sight.
As one anonymous Republican National Guardsman told Washingtonian, he viewed the deployment as “objectively unnecessary and almost wicked” to use armed soldiers as props to deter crime. He went on: “I love my country and I love the Army, but this is not what I signed up to do.”
The American public needs answers on how the government is using their taxpayer money—and CREW is demanding them.
CREW requested records to establish the cost of the takeover, determine how the reassignment of federal law enforcement officers affects agency priorities and shed light on what, if any, training was provided to officers who participated in the takeover.
We’re asking the court to order the federal agencies to expeditiously and fully process our FOIA requests and disclose all responsive records so that the public can have transparency into this aggressive, unnecessary and inappropriate imposition of federal power.
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