Mississippi and Louisiana Will Send National Guard Troops to D.C.

Politics|Mississippi and Louisiana Will Send National Guard Troops to D.C.

The governors of Mississippi and Louisiana said on Monday that they would deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, joining three other Republican-led states that have recently heeded President Trump’s request to fill the nation’s capital with troops.

Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi, a Republican, echoed Mr. Trump’s exaggerated portrayal of Washington as lawless, saying in a statement that he would send 200 troops because “Americans deserve a safe capital city that we can all be proud of.”

Violent crime has fallen rapidly in Washington in recent years, reaching a 30-year low. Mr. Trump claims, without evidence, that the city is fabricating crime statistics to hide its descent into a dystopian hellscape and has fudged statistics himself to justify his takeover. District leaders say the Trump administration has made combating crime harder through budget cuts and inaction.

The Louisiana National Guard said in a statement that “as directed by the president of the United States,” it was sending 135 members to Washington to “protect federal buildings, national monuments and other federal properties.”

“I am proud to support this mission to return safety and sanity to Washington,” Gov. Jeff Landry of Louisiana wrote on social media.

The governors of Ohio, West Virginia and South Carolina have also deployed National Guard troops to Washington as part of Mr. Trump’s crackdown on the city, which has also included deploying hundreds of federal agents and commandeering the Washington police force.

The five states are collectively sending about 1,000 troops to Washington, where there are already 800 deployed troops from the D.C. National Guard, which the president can call out directly. Governors typically control the National Guard in their states, though Mr. Trump circumvented this limitation when he deployed troops to Los Angeles this summer, a matter still under litigation in federal court.

It is unclear exactly where in Washington the Guard troops will be located, what their responsibilities are and who is directing them. Questions sent to each of the states’ National Guard headquarters were not answered on Monday. Governors’ offices either did not comment or referred questions to the Guard.

Many residents in the heavily Democratic city say they are angered by the prospect of more troops, though there was also a measure of resignation.

Patrick O’Rourke, who has seen Washington’s crime rate fluctuate over the 25 years he’s lived there, said the additional troops seemed like “a joke.” Other residents like Stanley Watters, a retired real estate agent, said Mr. Trump’s deployment of troops was just a hollow show of force.

“He’s just trying to show off that he’s got this power and is willing to use it in an authoritarian way,” Mr. Watters said.

But some residents said the situation reflected a failure of the city’s leadership, including that of Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat.

“I think it falls back on the mayor,” Lamont Johnson said, adding that if local government did its job, federal forces would not be needed.

Campbell Robertson, Anushka Patil and Mark Walker contributed reporting.