In a first since Trump deployed the guard to D.C., Democrats are sending troops [View all]

June 26, 20264:44 AM ET
Heard on Morning Edition
By

Kat Lonsdorf

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time since President Trump controversially deployed the National Guard to the nation's capital last year, several Democratic governors have sent members of their respective guards to the city.

Kentucky and North Carolina began the trend in recent weeks, each sending just a single guard member as D.C. readied for America 250 celebrations. Michigan then sent more than 100 last week, and Minnesota followed suit with 107 earlier this week, according to numbers made public by the D.C. Joint Task Force, which is coordinating Trump's deployment in the city.

Those troops are joining thousands of uniformed, armed guard members who have maintained a continuous presence in the city since August. Until recently, troops have come from Washington, D.C. and more than a dozen Republican-led states, which offered up members of their guard as part of a joint federal task force launched by Trump to fight crime in the city, which was already trending down. U.S. territories Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands have also contributed members of their National Guard.

But these are the first troops sent from states led by Democrats, leading many legal experts who have been watching Trump's deployment in D.C. to wonder whether those guard members will participate in the routine – and controversial – neighborhood patrols and overall militarized feeling of the nation's capital that has become a trademark of this administration. Democrats have largely opposed the president's deployment to the city.

https://www.npr.org/2026/06/26/nx-s1-5871231/democrats-national-guard-dc