After Donald Trump sent the National Guard units to patrol Washington, DC, the troops are now carrying firearms.
The escalation of the military deployment in DC will see some units on ‘certain missions’ armed with handguns and rifles.
A Defence Department official said all units with firearms have been trained and are operating under strict rules for the use of force.
The service members will only use the weapons as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm.
Yesterday, Trump threatened to expand his military deployments to more Democratic-led cities, including Chicago and New York.
When offered a tour of Baltimore by Maryland’s mayor, Trump said he might instead ‘send in the troops’.
Trump first announced the National Guard would enter DC earlier this month, even as violent crime rates in the nation’s capital have fallen since hitting a peak in 2023.
He claimed Washington was one of the ‘worst places on Earth’ and had been taken over by ‘drugged out maniacs and homeless people’.
But for the estimated 3,700 homeless in DC, which is home to 700,000 people, there’s simply no other place to go.
Though thousands of the homeless population are in shelters, about 800 are on the streets nightly, according to the Community Partnership.
50-year-old Al, a homeless man who has lived on the DC streets for more than a decade after struggles with addiction, told the Washington Post that DEA agents approached him for the first time and asked if he had any drugs or alcohol shortly after the guard entered DC.
The agents looked through his possessions for about ten minutes before leaving.
Shortly afterwards, Al said an outreach worker told him he needed to leave the area within two days.
‘And go where?’ he asked.
Sending the National Guard into DC means that the Washington DC Police Department is now under ‘direct federal control’.
Trump’s crackdown on what he deems as lawlessness in DC is an overhaul not seen before in American history.
Park Police have been tasked with cleaning up graffiti, the FBI is confiscating firearms and drugs en masse, and more than 500 federal agents have been deployed already.
FBI Director Kash Patel added: ‘Simplicity in law enforcement is what’s coming to Washington, DC.
‘When you have the DOJ and Trump driving behind this mission, we’re going to clean up Washington, DC, the right and lawful way.’
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