DC Mayor Bowser Rejects Trump’s National Guard Deployment for Policing

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser said Wednesday that National Guard personnel should not be used for routine law-enforcement duties, distancing the city from President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the troops in the U.S. capital to address violent crime. Asked whether posting Guard members at Metro stations and monuments is more strategic than assigning them to high-crime neighborhoods, Bowser replied, “I don’t think the National Guard should be used for law enforcement,” and described the deployment as placing “an armed militia” on city streets. The mayor argued that Guard call-ups should be reserved for mission-specific tasks of national importance, not day-to-day policing. Trump ordered Guard units from several states to the District earlier this month and says the show of force is already reducing crime. While some residents interviewed near transit hubs voiced support for the added security, Bowser and other Democrats call the move unprecedented and warn it risks normalizing military presence in civilian public safety.