{"id":2421,"date":"2026-08-12T06:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T06:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2026-08-12T06:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T06:48:25","slug":"d-c-has-gotten-used-to-the-national-guard-for-some-thats-dangerous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=2421","title":{"rendered":"D.C. Has Gotten Used to the National Guard. For Some, That\u2019s Dangerous."},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>On a recent Saturday, Starburst Plaza was something it\u2019s often not: quiet.<\/p><p>A few people sat on benches on the triangular plot that stands at the five-way intersection of H Street, Florida Avenue, Maryland Avenue, Benning Road and Bladensburg Road Northeast. But they were overshadowed by the pair of military Humvees posted on one end of the plaza, with a half-dozen members of the National Guard standing alongside them.<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=2415\">Trump Administration to End Federal Funding for Gender-Affirming Care for Children<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They mostly kept watch, occasionally handing passers-by bottles of water, posing for pictures, and, at one point, yelling at a man to put down a rock as a potential argument seemed like it would escalate into a fight.<\/p><p>\u201cThis is the first time I\u2019ve seen them sit right here,\u201d said Omar Nash, a resident of the nearby Carver-Langston neighborhood who was on his way home from his job with the U.S. Postal Service. \u201cI don\u2019t understand why this is right here, why they have the trucks and stuff. That\u2019s weird to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<section>\n<div>\n<h2>\n<span>Trending<\/span>\n<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Dick Durbin AP-21060711866032\" class=\"wp-image-2381\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/621008c25d1db7e9483ca9640248bb1d-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/621008c25d1db7e9483ca9640248bb1d-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/621008c25d1db7e9483ca9640248bb1d-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/621008c25d1db7e9483ca9640248bb1d.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      A Group of Centrist Senators Sees a Window to Overhaul Social Security\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Ken.Paxton.1\" class=\"wp-image-2382\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fe21182f89b6a3f4fcead871fcd4a9da-768x514.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fe21182f89b6a3f4fcead871fcd4a9da-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fe21182f89b6a3f4fcead871fcd4a9da-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fe21182f89b6a3f4fcead871fcd4a9da.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      Ken Paxton Rakes In Data Center Donations as Texans Turn Against Industry\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier\" class=\"wp-image-2419\" height=\"514\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4cb45156260485655e8951ce0762d32c-768x514.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4cb45156260485655e8951ce0762d32c-768x514.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4cb45156260485655e8951ce0762d32c-300x201.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/4cb45156260485655e8951ce0762d32c.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      Florida AG Wields State Pension Fund Against the NYT\n                    <\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div>\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-medium_large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Orioles Astros Baseball\" class=\"wp-image-2420\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/41bc494fdd89ba0780ac72de3ca1e0fc-768x512.jpg\" width=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/41bc494fdd89ba0780ac72de3ca1e0fc-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/41bc494fdd89ba0780ac72de3ca1e0fc-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/41bc494fdd89ba0780ac72de3ca1e0fc.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><h3>\n<span>\n                      Baseball and America\u2019s <u>Summer of Socialism<\/u>\n<\/span>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>But Nash also seemed both underwhelmed and unperturbed by the National Guard\u2019s presence in the plaza, saying it made him feel neither threatened nor any safer.<\/p><p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make a difference at all,\u201d he said.<\/p><p><span><i>Sign up for the NOTUS Metro newsletter for essential coverage of the D.C. region.<\/i><\/span><\/p><p>It\u2019s been a year since President Donald Trump <span><u>ordered the National Guard into D.C.<\/u><\/span> as part of an effort to fight what he said were unacceptably high levels of crime. What started as a deployment of 800 troops \u2014 largely from the D.C. National Guard \u2014 has expanded as of early August to <span><u>4,630 troops<\/u><\/span>, including from 15 states, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n<p>The Guard\u2019s presence has spurred loud protests and <span><u>spawned ongoing litigation<\/u><\/span> from the city\u2019s attorney general to get them out, with many D.C. residents fretting that the National Guard is ill-equipped to police the city, and worrying that at worst Trump could more aggressively turn the troops against them.<\/p><p>Trump hasn\u2019t only grown the National Guard\u2019s numbers in D.C.; he has also <span><u>expanded its deployment here until 2029<\/u><\/span>. And as the Guard\u2019s presence has grown, it has also become a new, if uncomfortable, norm for many residents \u2014 one made more frustrating by the city\u2019s lack of control over the decision.<\/p><p>\u201cWe don\u2019t have no say in that shit,\u201d said a frustrated resident in Anacostia, who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly. \u201cEven if the majority say no, it\u2019s still going. Why is that possible?\u201d<\/p><p>Groups of troops \u2014 many of them in their late teens and early 20s, roughly 60% of whom come from Republican-led Southern states \u2014 walking around the city\u2019s neighborhoods are now a common sight; they\u2019ve been spotted in Georgetown, Petworth, Trinidad, Capitol Hill and Columbia Heights, to name a few. They\u2019re also showing up in parts of the city where hyperlocal problems have flared up: They deployed to Starburst Plaza after <span><u>dozens of overdoses<\/u><\/span> and posted up last week in LeDroit Park after a fatal shooting sparked fears of a retaliatory cycle of gun violence.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>At least 2,000 of the Guard members posted in D.C. will soon be immediate neighbors of many residents; the federal government said it would be <span><u>spending $292 million to house the troops<\/u><\/span> in apartments across the city over the next year.<\/p><p>\u201cThey\u2019re nice overall,\u201d said a man outside the Anacostia Metro station last week, where a pair of National Guard members stood nearby. \u201cThey\u2019re helping in a certain way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span><i>Sign up for the NOTUS Metro newsletter for essential coverage of the D.C. region.<\/i><\/span><\/p><p>But civil rights advocates and some elected officials say that creeping normalization is precisely the danger.<\/p><p>\u201cThe idea that we are acclimating ourselves to armed National Guard members walking through our streets is perhaps the greatest risk of this deployment,\u201d says Michael Perloff, an attorney for the ACLU of D.C. who is currently representing a D.C. resident and veteran who says she was <span><u>assaulted and arrested by National Guard troops<\/u><\/span> at her home in May.<\/p><p>\u201cBecause once you accept that the way you\u2019re going to be policed is through armed military men,\u201d he adds, \u201cyou\u2019ve accepted a categorical escalation in the way that law enforcement is conducted.\u201d<\/p><p><b>\u2018Extremely Expensive Photo Op\u2019<\/b><\/p><p>The National Guard\u2019s initial deployment in D.C. was nominally meant to assist the Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement agencies to, <span><u>as Trump said it<\/u><\/span>, \u201crescue our nation\u2019s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, squalor, and worse\u201d \u2014 even though D.C. officials countered that crime rates were decreasing quickly through Trump\u2019s first year, before the deployment even happened.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe spin has always been public safety, but anybody paying attention knows that crime was dropping before this,\u201d said Robert White, a D.C. Council member who is poised to become the District\u2019s next Congressional delegate.<\/p><p>During its first months, the Guard\u2019s mission seemed disjointed. Troops patrolled commercial areas and tourist hubs like Union Station, leaving residents and local officials to sardonically marvel at how a crime-fighting mission avoided the city\u2019s most violent neighborhoods. Within weeks, the mission inexplicably <span><u>expanded<\/u><\/span> to citywide maintenance tasks: cleaning parks, fixing benches and laying down mulch.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>\u201cExtremely expensive photo op, and you\u2019re paying for it,\u201d <span><u>tweeted<\/u><\/span> D.C. police officer and former National Guard member Daniel Hodges.<\/p><p>While the removal of 500 tons of debris may have seemed to some a stretch of the National Guard\u2019s mission, the U.S. Army <span><u>said<\/u><\/span> those tasks represented \u201cvisible proof of a unified commitment to restoring public trust, improving quality of life, and ensuring that the capital reflects the pride and dignity worthy of representing the American people.\u201d<\/p><p>Over time, the mission also became more neighborhood-focused, with troops dispatched to areas experiencing overdoses or other public safety concerns, and even to <span><u>help enforce teen curfew zones<\/u><\/span> in late 2025 and earlier this year. Troops <span><u>revived a mother<\/u><\/span> who passed out in her car, <span><u>helped a man<\/u><\/span> who passed out in a Metro station and \u2014 as a NOTUS reporter watched \u2014 picked up litter at Starburst Plaza. Randy Clarke, general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, said last week that the National Guard has been \u201cmore eyes and ears\u201d in the system, helping make it safer for riders.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>Whether that outlay of troops and taxpayer dollars has accomplished the goal of helping lower crime in D.C. is a hotly contested topic. Trump certainly seems to think it has made the city safer. \u201cWashington D.C. went from High Crime to NO CRIME,\u201d he <span><u>posted on Truth Social last month<\/u><\/span>. Per <span><u>MPD data<\/u><\/span>, property crime has dropped 23% so far this year, compared to the same period last year. Violent crime is actually up 3%, though, largely driven by a significant spike in assaults with deadly weapons. At the same time, homicides are down 32%.<\/p>\n<p>Independent researchers, however, say the federal surge appears to have accomplished something both measurable and narrow: an accelerated drop in opportunistic property crime, without a corresponding reduction in violent crime.<\/p><p>While crime was already declining before the troops arrived, a <span><u>Niskanen Center analysis<\/u><\/span> found that the broader federal emergency response coincided with a roughly 24% reduction in property crime during its first six months. Researchers cautioned they cannot isolate the Guard\u2019s exact impact from the rest of the federal response, but noted the drop was most pronounced around transit hubs and commercial corridors where troops maintained a visible presence. Violent crime, however, remained unaffected.<\/p><p>\u201cIt does seem like low-level property crimes is something that really responds to manpower; if the guard goes away, we\u2019ll lose that manpower,\u201d said Richard Hahn, a senior manager for research and evidence at the Niskanen Center. But, he added, \u201cit\u2019s a really, really expensive way to keep low level property crimes under control \u2014 and by the way, these crimes are trending down anyway.\u201d<\/p><p><b>\u2018Very Mixed Responses\u2019<\/b><\/p><p>Brig. Gen. Leland Blanchard, the commander of the National Guard deployed in D.C., argues that his troops\u2019 successes in the city are real and measurable.<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=2411\">Darline Graham and Ralph Norman Head to a Runoff in South Carolina<\/a><\/p><p>Speaking during a news conference in early August, Blanchard said that over the past year the troops have provided 788 medical assists, reunited 43 lost children with their families, intervened in 262 altercations before they escalated further, and administered Narcan to 325 individuals. He added that the Guard also supported other law enforcement agencies 479 times over the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe National Guard does not replace law enforcement,\u201d Blanchard said. \u201cWe expand operational capacity, strengthen the ability to serve and provide additional capabilities during extraordinary circumstances.\u201d<\/p><p>Blanchard said that the Guard\u2019s presence at Starburst Plaza served that role; otherwise, MPD officers would have had to remain on site to ensure that no more overdoses happened. The Guard did the same last week in LeDroit Park, where it deployed two Humvees and eight Guard members.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>\u201cThere were very mixed responses,\u201d Matt Fay, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in LeDroit Park, said of the Guard\u2019s appearance in the neighborhood. \u201cThere were a number of people who said they appreciate it, but a number of people who said it made them nervous.\u201d<\/p><p>Bethany Young, the deputy director of the D.C. Justice Lab, finds herself in the latter group, and said that while the presence of the Guard may discourage someone from stealing a car near a Metro station, it leaves the root causes of violence unaddressed.<\/p><p>\u201cIt\u2019s dangerous to equate quiet, or things we can\u2019t see, with safety,\u201d Young says. \u201cThe decrease in opportunistic crime is not an indication that there has been a change in the preconditions that lead to crime.\u201d<\/p><p>Brown Woodland, a violence interrupter in LeDroit Park, takes a nuanced view of having the Guard in D.C. posted in his neighborhood. \u201cI guess it helps in the immediate area for a second,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s just a patch until you uplift the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><b>A Billion-Dollar Extension<\/b><\/p><p>The deployment has also become one of Trump\u2019s most expensive and enduring interventions in the District. The debate over its effectiveness cannot be separated from its staggering cost.<\/p><p>According to an analysis issued by the Congressional Budget Office this year, maintaining the troop posture cost $607 per Guard member daily, reaching over $330 million by early 2026. A more recent estimate submitted to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said that maintaining the Guard\u2019s presence in the city through the end of Trump\u2019s term <span><u>would cost an additional $1.4 billion<\/u><\/span>. (That amount could cover MPD\u2019s current budget for its 3,100 police officers for two years.)<\/p><p>Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 council member and Democratic nominee for D.C. mayor, calls the deployment \u201cnothing more than astronomically expensive political theater\u201d and an \u201canti-democratic boondoggle that hurts tourism and normalizes the militarization of our cities.\u201d<\/p><p>Jason Ziedenberg, research director at the D.C. Justice Lab, offers another way to measure that spending: He estimates the cost of just a few days of the deployment could fully fund trauma recovery centers for crime survivors in all eight wards of the District. While federal Guard funding could not be simply redirected into the city\u2019s coffers, advocates say the contrast highlights a federal willingness to fund rapid enforcement over long-term community investments.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>\u201cSinking scarce dollars into a failed operation is happening at a time when Americans across the country, but particularly D.C. residents, are facing an affordability crisis,\u201d said Tazra Mitchell, chief policy officer at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.<\/p>\n<p>The deployment\u2019s costs extend beyond the federal price tag. While the National Guard itself does not make arrests, the troops serve as the highly visible manifestation of a broader federal response. Their deployment coincided with aggressive shifts in policing, prosecution and detention that placed growing pressure on the District\u2019s criminal justice system, driving the local jail population up 18% over the past year.<\/p><p>According to D.C. Courts data, criminal filings have nearly tripled since fiscal 2023 \u2014 surging from about 7,000 cases to more than 18,000 \u2014 even as the court system operated through four years of essentially flat funding. As a result, the courts\u2019 criminal case clearance rate has fallen from 108% in fiscal 2023 to 60% in fiscal 2025.<\/p><p>Misty Thomas Zaleski, executive director of the Council for Court Excellence, cautioned against blaming the Guard itself for the gridlock, pointing instead to the lack of legal infrastructure.<\/p><p>\u201cPublic safety doesn\u2019t stop with an arrest,\u201d Zaleski said. \u201cIt is more expensive to incarcerate a person than it is to provide them housing, social safety-net services and health care.\u201d<\/p><p><b>\u2018Remind People That It\u2019s Not Normal\u2019<\/b><\/p><p>A year on, Young of the D.C. Justice Lab says community groups have seen a profound chilling effect driven by a critical oversight gap: Unlike local police, federal troops fall entirely outside the District\u2019s Office of Police Complaints. That lack of local accountability, combined with a fear of federal entanglement, has had tangible human consequences, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Some schools have had to arrange alternative student transportation because parents are too afraid to walk their children past armed patrols, while trauma service providers report that crime victims are skipping healing services to avoid encounters with federal personnel.<\/p><p>Advocates say the questions of accountability and public trust will likely outlast the deployment itself.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>\u201cSafety for most people cannot be quantified or measured by the number of armed people in uniform that you see walking around the community,\u201d Young added. <\/p><p>Many D.C. residents and elected officials remain steadfast in their opposition to having the National Guard deployed across the city \u2014 and they express it in ways big and small. Convincing Trump to reverse course is unlikely, so Free D.C., the advocacy organization leading protests against the deployment, has launched a postcard-writing campaign to governors providing troops to build political pressure to pull them out.<\/p><p>Gail Sullivan, a Free D.C. adviser and longtime resident of the east end of Capitol Hill, says she regularly uses her neighborhood\u2019s WhatsApp group (somewhat jokingly called the \u201cPeople\u2019s Front of H Street\u201d) to warn neighbors when troops are walking around. She, though, chooses to directly engage with them.<\/p><div>\n<\/div><p>\u201cMost of the time I\u2019m saying, \u2018Who\u2019s looking after your family?\u2019 But now I\u2019m going to change it. I\u2019m going to say, \u2018How would you like it that every time your family came out of their house there was an armed National Guardsman walking around?\u2019 That\u2019s a way to look at it from a personal point of view,\u201d she said.<\/p><p>Karen Degraphenreid, an organizer with Free D.C. who also served in the U.S. Air Force for 10 years before leaving earlier this year, says she has found herself conflicted with how she feels about the people who are serving in the National Guard and what they are being told to do in D.C.<\/p><p>\u201cThey are not these horrible baby killers, but they are enabling something that is dangerous,\u201d she says. \u201cThey aren\u2019t doing the ICE arrests, but if ICE told them to create a perimeter, they would. So at the end of the day, my feelings about how nice they are as people don\u2019t matter as much as, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re enabling this occupation.\u2019\u201d<\/p><p>Looking ahead after a year of having the National Guard in D.C., Degraphenreid says she keeps focused on a single message: \u201cWe have these conversations to remind people that it\u2019s not normal,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019re shouting from the rooftops trying to make sure people don\u2019t get too comfortable.\u201d<\/p><p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=2406\">Longtime Rep. John Larson Loses Reelection Bid in Connecticut<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Critics say that&#8217;s exactly the problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2416,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-metro"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>D.C. Has Gotten Used to the National Guard. 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