The Pentagon confirmed the National Guard will remain deployed in Washington, D.C., through Inauguration Day 2029 as part of President Trump's anti-crime mission unless the president decides otherwise.
The number of troops in the city has essentially doubled to nearly 5,000 from more than 20 states in recent weeks as part of a "summer surge" of law enforcement announced by federal officials in May.
President Trump first deployed the National Guard to D.C. in August 2025 after declaring a "crime emergency" and launching the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force; the emergency declaration ended a month later, but the task force and troop presence have continued even as violent crime hit a 30-year low.
"An emergency is a sudden, unforeseen, and temporary state of affairs. Announcing that an emergency will last for another two and a half years means it's not an emergency," says Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of Liberty and National Security at the Brennan Center for Justice. "Given what happened in January 2021, that should send up major red flags," Goitien says, referring to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th that year during Trump's first term.
Late last year a Federal Appeals Court ruled the deployment could continue, and more than 20 state governors, as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have chosen to send members of their National Guard to D.C., although many Democrats on that list have insisted their troops are only to be used as part of America 250 celebrations.
The Joint Task Force says all guard members who come to D.C. have been deputized as special police by the U.S. Marshals Service and issued a firearm, which the report calls rare for a domestic National Guard deployment; guard troops are not authorized to make arrests but can detain someone until arresting officers arrive.
Two different studies — including one by the Center for American Progress — found the National Guard presence in D.C. has had little to no effect on violent crime, and Chandler Hall, associate director on the public safety team at CAP and lead researcher of the study, says, "These trends have been going on since before the deployment, since before Trump's second inauguration even. It should tell people that actually this is not part of the solution."
The nonpartisan Niskanen Center found the troop patrols led to a 24% decrease in "opportunistic" crimes such as property crimes and vehicle break-ins, but its researchers called the deployment a "blunt and expensive instrument."
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the current cost of the deployment at more than $3 million per day, and the Project on Government Oversight estimates the deployment with the 2029 extension will cost between $2.5 billion and $3.4 billion in total. "I have seen no indications that they are going to draw down at the end of this summer," says Virginia Burger, senior defense policy analyst for the Project on Government Oversight, adding the estimate does not account for inflation or increased lodging, food or transportation costs and noting the number of troops has increased to more than five times the original deployment in less than a year.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment; President Trump has repeatedly hailed the D.C. mission a success, falsely claiming the city has "almost no crime anymore." Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth hosted an event in a city park on July 2, 2026, thanking troops and saying, "It's a righteous and beautiful mission." Activists have hung signs reading "Guard go home," and local D.C. politicians, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, have said they do not support the deployment, did not ask for it and did not approve of it; one of D.C.'s two non-voting senators, Ankit Jain, says, "I don't have anything against National Guard troops. I think that they signed up to serve our country, and I don't think this is a good use of their service."