WASHINGTON (AP) — Three more Republican governors authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Washington on Monday, part of President Donald Trump’s escalating show of force that he says is designed to crack down on crime and boost immigration enforcement in the nation’s capital. The announcements by Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana brought the number of state troops detailed to the president’s effort to more than 1,100 — and the number of states to six.
Governors from the states said they were responding to requests from the Trump administration to join the operation. It was not immediately clear why the administration requested additional military support. About 800 troops have already been called up from the Washington, D.C., guard and have had a limited assigned role so far in Trump’s 10-day-old attempted takeover of D.C. law enforcement.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said the descriptions of the operation needed to be more honest — and acknowledge that they weren’t just about curtailing crime but about immigration enforcement, a centerpiece of the second Trump administration that has echoed across the country in recent months. During a news conference, Bowser pushed back on Trump’s characterization of the city and voiced skepticism about the administration’s intentions.
“I think it makes the point that this is not about D.C. crime,” Bowser said of the administration and states deploying National Guard members onto the streets of the capital. “The focus should be on violent crime. … Nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence. And so if this is really about immigration enforcement, the administration should make that plain.”
Trump’s executive order that launched the federal operation declared a “crime emergency” in the District of Columbia and initiated a takeover of Washington’s police department. The administration has ordered local police to cooperate with federal agents on immigration enforcement, orders that would contradict local laws prohibiting such collaboration.
Federal agents have arrested 160 undocumented people in the district since the operation began, including people that White House officials allege are known gang members with prior felony offenses.
Friction with local government and community continues
The executive order has led to friction with the local government and heightened tensions in the…