WASHINGTON (AP) — Joining forces from three other Republican-led states, the Mississippi National Guard will deploy 200 troops to Washington as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing federal policing and immigration overhaul in the nation’s capital.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement Monday that he has approved the deployment of approximately 200 Mississippi National Guard Soldiers to Washington, D.C.
“Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it,” Reeves said.
Mississippi joins three other states that have pledged to deploy hundreds of National Guard members to the nation’s capital to bolster the Republican administration’s operation aiming to transform policing in the Democratic-led city through a federal crackdown on crime and homelessness.
West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 troops, South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio said it will send 150 in the coming days, deployments that built on top of President Donald Trump’s initial order that 800 National Guard troops deploy as part of the federal intervention.
Trump’s executive order that launched the federal operation declared a “crime emergency” in the District of Columbia and initiated a takeover Washington’s police department. The administration has ordered local police to cooperate with federal agents on immigration enforcement, orders that would contradict local laws prohibiting such collaboration.
“D.C. has been under siege from thugs and killers, but now, D.C. is back under Federal Control where it belongs,” Trump wrote on his social media website a day after issuing his order. “The White House is in charge. The Military and our Great Police will liberate this City, scrape away the filth, and make it safe, clean, habitable and beautiful once more!”
During a Monday news conference, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser pushed back on Trump’s characterization of the city and voiced skepticism about the administration’s intentions in flooding the capital with troops and federal agents.
“We don’t have any authority over the DC Guard or any other guards, but I think it makes the point that this is not about DC crime,” Bowser said of the administration and states deploying National Guard members onto the streets of the capital.
“The focus should be on violent crime,” Bowser continued. “Nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence. And so if this is really about immigration enforcement the administration should make that plain.”
National Guard members in the District of Columbia have been assisting law enforcement with tasks including crowd control and patrolling landmarks such as the National Mall and Union Station. Their role has been limited thus far, and it remains unclear why additional troops would be needed.
Federal agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Secret Service and other agencies have patrolled high traffic areas around the capital over the last week. ICE officers, who work under the Department of Homeland Security, have made arrests in neighborhoods across the city, dispersed some public gatherings and torn pro-immigrant signs, according to videos published by the administration.
The White House has touted various arrests that local police and federal agents have made across the city since Trump’s executive order. Federal agents have made 380 arrests in the week since the start of the operation and in some cases issued charges to detained people. The White House has touted the surge of agents on social media and posted pictures of people arrested by local and federal officers.
“Washington, DC is getting safer every night thanks to our law enforcement partners,” Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media. “Just this weekend, 137 arrests were made and 21 illegal firearms were seized. In total, there have been nearly 400 arrests—and we are not slowing down.”
Amid the crackdown, the administration has received criticism for the conduct of some federal agents, who in several high-profile incidents have arrested people while wearing masks that hide their identity and declined to identify themselves to media or members of the public when questioned.
Bowser said Monday that she had asked D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith to seek answers from the administration about the use of masked police.
“It’s very important to us that agents be identified,” Bowser said. “There’s no reason for a law enforcement official to be masked.”
Over the weekend in Washington, protesters pushed back on federal law enforcement and National Guard troops fanning out in the city. Scores of protesters gathered in the city’s Dupont Circle on Saturday and marched to the White House.
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Associated Press writer Jeff Amy in Atlanta contributed to this report.
