The troops’ orders had been expected to lapse at the end of November before Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth extended them, which has not been previously reported.
National Guard soldiers stand at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in the early morning.
National Guard soldiers stand at the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in the early morning.
(CNN) — National Guard troops deployed in Washington, DC, will remain mobilized in the city at least through February 2026, according to people familiar with the guard’s orders.
The troops’ orders had been expected to lapse at the end of November before Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth extended them, which has not been previously reported.
The DC mobilization is currently the subject of a legal fight between the Trump administration and DC’s attorney general, who has requested that a judge order the removal of the roughly 2,000 troops from DC’s streets.
As of Wednesday morning, there were 2,387 National Guard troops mobilized in DC, including from DC, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, West Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. The pay for those guard members has also been in jeopardy as part of the ongoing government shutdown. The mission is costing roughly $1 million daily.
Trump said in August he was mobilizing the guard in DC to help fight crime. The troops are on Title 32 orders, meaning they are authorized to conduct law enforcement activities, as opposed to Title 10 orders which means they are federalized and therefore barred by law to engage in law enforcement activities.
But since they arrived in the city over two months ago, guard members have largely been tasked with “beautification” efforts around the city, including cleaning up parks, laying mulch and picking up trash.
CNN has reported that there was frustration with the mission’s unclear timeline, particularly as troops often leave behind higher-paying civilian jobs while deployed with the guard.
A previous extension through November was largely intended to ensure the continuity of benefits for service members and their families, a senior official familiar with the planning previously told CNN. Guard members do not typically qualify for things like health care benefits or housing allowances unless they are on orders for more than 30 days.
But the Trump administration has also left the door open for how long the mission could continue. In August, Vice President JD Vance said if Trump “thinks that he has to extend this order to ensure that people have access to public safety, then that’s exactly what he’ll do.”
US Attorney for DC Pirro touts promising crime trends in front of frustrated community members at a community meeting Thursday.
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Pirro touts promising crime trends in front of frustrated DC community members
U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro touted promising crime trends during a community meeting Thursday, as residents pushed back and expressed frustration with masked federal agents and an increased ICE presence in their neighborhoods.
Pirro’s comments came during a post-surge accountability forum, hosted by the 3rd District Citizens Advisory Council. Its coverage area includes Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Shaw, Logan Circle and Bloomingdale, among others.
During the nearly hourlong conversation, Pirro said President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge across the city has resulted in a significant drop in violent crime. As a result of the extra help, Pirro said homicides are down 53%, robberies are down 59% and violent crime overall is down 39% to 40%.
City leaders, though, maintain crime was declining before the federal surge.
Nonetheless, some residents pushed back on Pirro’s remarks, wearing shirts that said “Free DC,” vocally rejecting her assertion that the surge is creating positive change, and in one case, resulting in a resident getting escorted out of the room.
Pirro’s comments came as the crime emergency in D.C. has expired, but the extra federal resources have remained. Despite the positive trends, prosecutors have dropped almost a dozen cases from the surge, the Associated Press reported.
“No one can deny that crime has gone down,” Pirro said. “That there is a deterrent effect. That people are not as willing to shoot, carjack, stab. And by the way, do you know what’s up? Stabbings, because we’re taking the guns away.”
Pirro said she wanted to attend the meetings after watching the community become “animated” on TV in response to the surge. Karen Gaal, the citizen council’s chairwoman and public safety director, described the meeting that prompted Pirro’s appearance as “passionate.”
Meanwhile, Pirro said she’s working with Congress and Mayor Muriel Bowser on changes that would expand her office’s ability to prosecute juveniles as adults. Currently, Pirro said the office can only prosecute rape one, armed robbery, burglary one and murder crimes when they’re committed by a 16 or 17 year old.
She criticized the city’s handling of teenagers accused of crimes, saying, “You can’t repeatedly allow young people committing violent crimes to go to ice cream socials and yoga, because that’s what they do.”
Her office, Pirro said, is down over 70 prosecutors and 150 paralegals, legal assistants and investigators. Regarding judicial vacancies, Pirro said she “spoke to someone very important about that.”
“With respect to the police, there is a great deal of negotiating going on right now, and you will be surprised at how Democrats and Republicans are working together, because there is no Republican or Democratic way to protect the people of the District.”
Athena Viscusi asked Pirro about federal agents wearing masks, and after her appearance said, “It’s like we’re walking in two different cities. She’s seeing some city of lawless people that need to be yanked off the streets, and I see a city of people who are trying to go about their lives, take their kids to school, do their jobs and are being yanked off the streets.”
Pirro, meanwhile, vowed to crack down on illegal guns and said agents may be wearing masks because “they believe it’s what they need to do to not be targeted” but “I’m not here to argue that issue.”
“My job is to protect,” Pirro said. “My job is to prosecute. My job is to support those guys, and if you would prefer that they not be here, then you’re going to be dealing with the juveniles who are out of control.”
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It has been only a few days since the Trump administration’s law enforcement surge in D.C. ended. WTOP talked to some residents about it.
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DC residents react after law enforcement surge ends
The Charles Dickens novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ takes place in Paris and London. Maybe the late Dickens would describe this weekend in the nation’s capital as “Two Tales for One City.”
It has been only a few days since the Trump administration’s law enforcement surge ended.
President Donald Trump announced his plan to increase officers in D.C. and bring in the National Guard on Aug. 11.
WTOP spoke with residents at Hechinger Mall in Northeast D.C. about the law enforcement surge and whether they thought it was effective.
Everyone WTOP found said that something had to be done about crime, but some did question the timing of the surge.
One of those who was most vocal people about the surge was a woman named Linda, who works at one of the stores at the strip center: “The first 12 days of it there were no murders. … It should go longer if it’s going to help.”
That was the first of two tales. The second comes from D.C.’s Shaw neighborhood.
Some people told WTOP they only went from home to work and back during the surge, and now that it’s over, they are going out to have fun.
“It felt very invasive to come outside and see the machine guns. It looked very much like a war scene,” said Clinese Robinson. “I’m out enjoying my life again.”
While a drop in crime did occur during the 30-day emergency declaration issued by President Trump, restaurateurs in D.C. said they experienced a drop in business.
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In the Anacostia neighborhood, the crime that President Donald Trump has mobilized federal law enforcement to address is something residents would like to see more resources dedicated to. But it’s complicated.
DC Federal Intervention Members of the South Carolina National Guard patrol with the Lincoln Monument in the background, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib
DC Federal Intervention Demonstrators protest against President Donald Trump’s deployment of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops in Washington during a march on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Federal Intervention One Neighborhood Doors are open to NAM’s Market, in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)
AP Photo/Gary Fields
Federal Intervention One Neighborhood Norm Nixon, an associate pastor at Union Temple Baptist Church, poses for a photo in the sanctuary during an Aug. 23, 2025 seniors’ party hosted at the church in Washington. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)
AP Photo/Gary Fields
Federal Intervention One Neighborhood The Border Patrol pulls out of the metro station in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, Aug. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Gary Fields)
AP Photo/Gary Fields
WASHINGTON (AP) — In a swath of the nation’s capital that sits across the tracks, and the river, residents can see the Washington Monument, the Waldorf Astoria — formerly the Trump Hotel — and the U.S. Capitol dome.
What the people of Anacostia cannot see are the National Guard units patrolling those areas. And they don’t see them patrolling on this side of the Anacostia River, either.
In this storied region of Washington, home to Frederick Douglass, the crime that President Donald Trump has mobilized federal law enforcement to address is something residents would like to see more resources dedicated to. But it’s complicated.
“We do need protection here,” said Mable Carter, 82. “I have to come down on the bus. It’s horrifying.”
There might be military units patrolling Union Station and public spaces where tourists often come, she said, but “none of them over here. They are armed — on the Mall. Ain’t nobody doing nothing on the Mall. It’s for show.”
Carter wants to see more police in this area — the city’s own police, under the direction of Chief Pamela Smith. “I’d rather see them give her a chance. She has the structure in place.”
The Pentagon, when asked if there were plans to deploy the National Guard to higher crime areas like Anacostia and who determines that, sent a list of stations where the military units were present as of late last month. None of those deployments included stations east of the Anacostia River.
In response to a question of whether those deployments had been extended, or whether there were plans to do so White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said that federal law enforcement members have been working the wards east of the river, including involvement in the arrests of several suspects wanted for violent crimes, including a first-degree murder warrant.
“As we have said since the beginning of the operation, National Guard troops are not making arrests at this time, but federal law enforcement officers will continue getting criminals off the streets and making the communities safer,” Rogers said.
A neighborhood caught in the middle
Over the course of two weekends east of the river, in conversations with groups and individuals, including a senior’s gathering at Union Temple Baptist Church, a theme emerged.
Like Carter, people would like more law enforcement resources, but they distrust the motives behind the surge and how it has usurped the authority of the mayor and local officers. And while they acknowledge crime is more serious here than most other areas of the district, it is nowhere near the levels of three decades ago, when the D.C. National Guard worked with the Metropolitan Police to address the violence.
This year’s homicides in the district, as of Friday, were at 104, a 17% decrease from 126 as of Sept. 5 last year. But, more than 60% of them are in the two wards that are almost exclusively east of the Anacostia River, including 38 in Ward 8, according to the Metropolitan Police Department crime mapping tool. That proportion is about the same as it was in 2024 when there were 187 homicides citywide for the year. One of the most notable murders was a double homicide that left two teens lying dead on the street and a third man wounded.
“I just called the police the other night,” said Henny, 42, who owns NAM’s Market.
He said a group of teenagers attempted to rob his store after casing it throughout the day. He called police and said they asked him if they were armed. “I didn’t see a weapon,” he said, adding that no patrol officers responded.
The store owner said he has been here about 10 years and been victimized multiple times but thinks it is getting worse now. He does not give his last name out of fear.
“What worries me is to make sure they’re not coming back,” he said. “There are a lot of things going on.” Asked if he feels safe he said, “Absolutely not.”
He has pepper spray but has been told by authorities not to use it, he said. When he heard of the federal law enforcement and National Guard arrival, “To be honest, I said that’s good — but that’s not over here. It’s getting worse. The city says crime is down but I don’t see it.”
‘The rampage with guns is nothing new’
A block away, Rosie Hyde’s perspective is different. The ashes of one of the 75-year-old widow’s sons are spread around her property. Samuel Johnson was killed about three miles away on April 20, 1991. The case is still open.
Hyde, a retired probation officer for the city, said her son died during that epidemic of gun violence. “That was 35 years ago,” she said. “That tells you the rampage with guns is nothing new.”
Homicides topped 400 annually in 1989 and stayed there through 1996, according to the district’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Aggravated assaults were also at record totals.
Hyde believes Trump is after the optics in areas where he will get attention — at the train station, on the Mall, in areas with a concentration of tourists. “They haven’t been over here like that,” she said.
The majestic home of Frederick Douglass is here, offering a panoramic view of other parts of the city west of the river. Farther east is the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. The plaque outside says as much about this moment as it does about history: The museum, it says, “aspires to illuminate and share the untold and often overlooked stories of people furthest from opportunity in the Greater Washington, D.C. region.”
Federal agents are in this area working with local authorities, including FBI agents and Border Patrol, as well as Metro Transit Authority police. Along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, a major thoroughfare in Anacostia, new buildings mix with older ones and small groups of people mill about, drinking from bottles and with the occasional smell of marijuana. But it is relatively quiet.
At one point, a large group of National Guard members climbs out of a van at the Anacostia Metro station, but they catch the train heading west back beneath the river. While troops are stationed at 18 stops, the last one on the green line is the Navy Yard-Ballpark station, the final one west of the river.
Guard presence has precedent in this neighborhood
There was a time when the Guard was here — or, more precisely, above it. During the high crime years, the D.C. National Guard worked with District police; officers flew aboard the Guard’s helicopters directing patrol units to crime scenes.
Norm Nixon, an associate pastor at Union Temple Baptist Church, said there are federal agents around, but their presence is not constant and no military uniforms are seen on the streets. He said local officers who try to push community policing — communicating with residents and acknowledging their concerns — will probably get blowback because of the federal presence.
He, like others, questions why Trump decided to federalize the city when violence is present virtually everywhere, including in rural areas where drugs and economic hardships have created fertile ground for lawlessness.
“The president needs to have these initiatives to make it seem like something is happening, almost like he’s got to make news,” Nixon said, adding that he is also concerned about the focus on rousting the homeless population. “What happened to those people? Are they receiving services?”
Vernon Hancock, a church elder and trustee attending a senior’s day party, said he believes Trumps’ actions are a test. “Washington, D.C., is easy because it is federal and he has the authority to do what he’s doing,” Hancock said. “It is a federal city so he can just take over. But he wants to take this to other cities and spread this.”
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Associated Press writer Konstantin Toropin contributed to this report.
It has been a tougher year for the tourism in D.C. and amid the surge of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops patrolling the streets, Destination D.C. is attempting to alleviate the concerns of travelers.
It’s already been a tough year for D.C. tourism with a data firm projecting a 5.1% drop in international visitors this year.
There’s concern the surge of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops could drive away more visitors.
Meade Atkeson, a regional director of two Sonesta Hotels in D.C. and Destination D.C. board chair, said hotels are on the defensive over the past few weeks.
“It has put us in position where we need to counterbalance that rhetoric by making it a point to potential travelers to tell them that the crime situation is actually much better than it’s been previously, and we’re a very welcoming place and a very safe place, and hopefully we can turn that around,” Atkeson said.
Destination D.C., the city’s tourism marketing organization, is attempting to reassure wary travelers.
“The surge has given people reason to pause and ask questions as to whether or not we should consider coming to Washington,” said Destination D.C. President and CEO Elliott Ferguson. “But that number of people is not as large as you would anticipate.”
Ferguson said Destination D.C. workers have been throughout the city, surveying visitors over the past few weeks and asking if they had considered canceling their plans.
Most who had already shown up said they felt comfortable going to D.C.
“There are those that are saying, ‘We don’t feel comfortable because we’re hearing that there are tanks going down the street.’ So, the rhetoric and perception are not the reality, and that is what we’re trying to kind of rightsize,” Ferguson said.
The surge in federal law enforcement comes as D.C. holds its Summer Restaurant Week, a marketing event with specials and deals meant to drive diners to the city.
CNN obtained data that showed foot traffic is down 81% in D.C.’s retail stores from last year.
Projected 5% drop in international visitors
The surge could cause complications for an already hard-hit subset of tourism: international travelers.
At Destination D.C.’s marketing outlook meeting Tuesday, the data firm Tourism Economics revealed the city’s updated forecast of a 5.1% drop in international visitors in 2025. Still slightly better than the around 8% decline across the U.S. as a whole.
“Their biggest concern is, ‘Will we be welcomed in the United States? Will the process of going through customs be cumbersome?’ Because that’s what they’ve heard,” Ferguson said. “It’s not remotely the reality.”
Typically, international travelers far outspend domestic visitors to the capital.
Destination D.C. over the last few weeks launched a new social media campaign in the wake of the federal crime emergency called the “Love Letter to DC.”
Ferguson said it was an opportunity to focus on how Washingtonians feel about the city.
“It really showcases Washington through a different lens, which is the real lens, not what the federal government is saying about Washington as a destination,” Ferguson said.
They will also be launching a new marketing campaign titled “We the People DC,” which leans into the more personal side of the city featuring 20 D.C. residents.
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The president did not immediately outline any specifics, but called capital punishment a “very strong preventative” measure. The D.C. Superior Court traditionally handles the bulk of murder cases in the city.
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Pirro doubles down on crime stats, while DC leaders want ‘false narrative’ to end
(CNN) — President Donald Trump said that his administration will seek the death penalty in all murder cases in Washington, DC, a move that could run into significant obstacles with city juries.
“Anybody murders something in the capital, capital punishment. Capital, capital punishment. If somebody kills somebody in the capital, Washington, DC, we’re going to be seeking the death penalty,” the president said during a meeting with Cabinet members Tuesday.
The president did not immediately outline any specifics, but called capital punishment a “very strong preventative” measure. States, he said, “are going to have to make their own decision,” though in the nation’s capital, prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
“We have no choice,” he said.
Traditionally, the DC Superior Court handles the bulk of murder cases in the city, and it would be bound by the city code that does not authorize capital punishment.
However, the US attorney’s office in DC, which prosecutes crimes in both the local and federal court in the city – unlike any other jurisdiction in the country – could bring federal charges in many capital-eligible cases and seek the death penalty.
“We will use all legal sanctions and sentences called for by law,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said at a press conference on Tuesday, when asked about her office seeking capital punishment in DC cases.
Actually getting a death sentence, though, might not be so easy, as prosecutors would have to convince jurors to sign off. Historically, prosecutors have faced challenges in convincing special juries to impose capital punishment in DC, even if they vote unanimously to convict the defendants, multiple people in Washington’s legal community have told CNN in recent weeks.
“It’s going to be difficult to find 12 people in DC who are going to do that,” said Jon Jeffress, a former federal public defender-turned-private defense lawyer in the city.
The federal court in the District of Columbia hasn’t held a death penalty trial since 2003, when Rodney L. Moore was convicted of 10 killings and Kevin L. Gray was convicted of 19 killings, according to multiple people familiar with the court and that case. In that case, the jurors said they couldn’t agree unanimously on death sentences for the two men rather than life imprisonment, court records show.
Asked about the unwillingness of juries in the past to approve the death penalty in DC cases, Pirro said: “We’re going to follow the law, the deliberative process, present the evidence … whether DC is inclined to do it or not, it’s not a political issue.”
“This is an issue that’s sanctioned by the law, and gives us the power to do that. If not us, then who?” she added.
In recent months, the Justice Department has indicated in at least three cases in DC’s federal court that it may seek the death penalty, according to court records.
The Department of Justice is also actively considering seeking the death penalty in DC District Court for two Mexican nationals who were charged in 2008 in a gang case and recently brought to the US, and for two young men who were indicted for a 2023 carjacking, according to court records.
A pair of senior D.C. police commanders acknowledged that the ongoing federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital is alienating the population and damaging community relationships that will have to be mended in the future.
DC Federal Intervention Armed South Carolina National Guardsmen patrol near the Washington Monument, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson
Trump District of Columbia Armed members of the West Virginia National Guard patrol around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.
DC Federal Intervention Armed members of the West Virginia National Guard patrol the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.
Trump District of Columbia With the White House in the distance, members of the South Carolina National Guard patrol Lafayette Park in Washington, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A pair of senior Washington, D.C., police commanders acknowledged Tuesday that the ongoing federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital is alienating the population and damaging community relationships that will have to be mended in the future.
“What relationships do we have to repair once this surge is over? I’m prepared to do that. I’m prepared to have those long, tough conversations. But I know it’s going to be tough,” said Sixth District Commander Jaron Hickman. “We are getting some violent people off the streets — but in the long run, at what cost?”
Hickman and Seventh District Commander James Boteler spoke Tuesday before about 50 citizens at a meeting of the Anacostia Community Council. The appearance had been scheduled well before President Donald Trump took over the Metropolitan Police Department and flooded the capital with federal law enforcement agents and National Guard troops.
D.C.’s police department faces a complex situation
The ongoing consequences of Trump’s surge dominated the commanders’ 45-minute Q&A session. Both commanders deferred on some of the more pointed questions asked by the audience. But both also offered revealing glimpses into the complexity of the situation faced by the police department.
“I have my own feelings but I’m also non-partisan. I have to come to work every day regardless of who’s sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” Boteler said. “I know Chief Pamela Smith and her entire executive staff is keenly aware of what people are feeling in the community. Because we’re talking about it every single day.”
Hickman said he wrote a mass email to the 302 officers under his command when Trump first launched his takeover of the department earlier this month. His message: “You have morals. We have policies. If you see something that doesn’t feel right, you should be speaking up.”
Yet Hickman said it was discouraging to see some checkpoints and arrests that he felt were unnecessary.
“It’s disheartening as a district commander, I can’t get out of my car off-duty and say ‘Man, you guys aren’t needed here,’” he said. “I don’t know if that provides you with any comfort. I’m just being honest with you.”
Maine resident Patricia Sylvester carried a sign that read “What do you stand for?” as National Guard troops milled nearby.
“My feeling is that it’s an occupation, and that it is not about crime,” Sylvester said. “I think it’s a power move. I’ve said to them, because I talked to the National Guard, I’ve said, ‘This doesn’t make me feel safer.’”
Dan Gehrke, visiting from Wisconsin with his wife and children, said the troops were a welcome presence.
“You can see different cities all over the United States that are having problems,” Gehrke said. “And I think that anything that we can do to make the cities of the United State safer is better.”
Some of the District’s schools appeared to be trying to make it as normal as possible on the second day of classes. Outside one elementary school, staff greeted children with upbeat music and escorted them from school buses into the building. At some other schools, neighbors organized demonstrations to show support for immigrant families.
It was too soon to know whether the law enforcement surge had led to a significant decrease in attendance as some have feared. The school district did not provide attendance data but said it is sharing safety guidance for students “as they commute to and from their school campuses this week and beyond.”
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Associated Press journalist Mike Pesoli contributed reporting.
