President Donald Trump’s administration has not asked the Maine National Guard to join several states’ units in deploying to Washington, D.C., as part of the Republican’s takeover of law enforcement operations in the nation’s capital.
More than 2,000 National Guard troops from Republican-led states, including West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Louisiana and Mississippi, have been patrolling Washington’s streets after Trump issued earlier in August his order to take command of the city’s police operations.
Trump gave the directive after the alleged assault of a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer and made misleading claims about violence in the city despite its violent crime rate being at a 30-year low. On Tuesday, he said his administration will seek the death penalty in all murder cases in Washington.
The Maine National Guard has “not been asked to send anyone to D.C.,” spokesperson Maj. Nick Erickson said Wednesday. An upcoming deployment outside of Maine involves an engineer unit going to Saudi Arabia this fall, Erickson added.
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott, a centrist Republican, has reportedly declined a request for National Guard troops from the Trump administration, with Scott’s office citing the “hyperpoliticized” nature of the situation in Washington. Neighboring New Hampshire has not received a request for its National Guard troops, Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said.
Maine is led by Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat who clashed with Trump in February before he began targeting the state for allowing transgender female athletes in female sports.
Trump’s Washington takeover has also featured controversial immigration enforcement operations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a directive last week that allows some National Guard troops to carry firearms. Trump extended his control Wednesday by taking management of Washington’s Union Station transit hub away from Amtrak.
