Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met with National Guard troops at Washington’s Union Station on Wednesday, while protesters booed at the two leaders and chanted “free D.C.”
Vance told reporters that he had come to pass out a few burgers to the troops and responded to the chants with, “Let’s free Washington, D.C. from lawlessness.”
He added that he believed crime statistics were not showing the full scope of crime levels in D.C. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller was also present during the visit.
Officials say about 1,900 troops are being deployed in Washington, with more than half coming from Republican-led states, including Tennessee, South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, West Virginia and Ohio.
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Earlier Wednesday, an armored vehicle collided with a civilian car a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol, trapping one civilian inside the car who had to be extricated by emergency responders, according to the D.C. fire department.
National Guard members do not have law enforcement authorities and are currently unarmed. An official told Military Times that arming Guard members in the nation’s capital is currently under consideration.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a press conference Monday afternoon that violent crime has decreased in the city since a rise two years ago.
“We’re at a 30-year violent-crime low. We’re not satisfied. We haven’t taken our foot off the gas, and we continue to look for ways to make our city safer,” she said.
The Guard was activated last week to support an increased federal law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital after President Donald Trump declared a public safety emergency. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that more than 550 arrests have been made in Washington since the emergency declaration.
The decision to activate the Guard in the nation’s capital is not unprecedented, but the move is typically centered around supporting law enforcement during major events such as inaugurations, parades or political gatherings like the NATO summit in Washington last year.
When troops are activated to respond to civil disturbances, there is typically a concern that local or state police are being overwhelmed, or might be overwhelmed, by protesters or rioters.
The last time the National Guard was activated to respond to a civil disturbance in Washington was on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters who were protesting the 2020 presidential election results broke into the U.S. Capitol, beat police officers, destroyed government property and threatened elected officials.
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