Washington — The commander of the D.C. National Guard has extended the Guard’s deployment to Nov. 30, according to two National Guard officials and a social media post from the D.C. National Guard.
The order applies only to the members of the D.C. National Guard who were deployed last month to enhance security in the nation’s capital. The order does not apply to National Guard members from other states. ABC News first reported the extension.
“I’ve made the decision to extend the encampment, as we continue to work to ensure that everyone that walks through these city streets is safe,” Brig. Gen. Leland D. Blanchard II, interim commanding general for the D.C. National Guard, said in a video posted to the D.C. National Guard’s Facebook page. “They deserve that. You deserve that. Our nation deserves that.”
The White House didn’t confirm the extension, but a White House official said, “President Trump is committed to the long-term safety and security of Washington, D.C., for its residents and visitors.”
The same day the D.C. National Guard announced the extension of their mission, the district sued the Trump administration over the National Guard’s deployment. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb claimed in the lawsuit that the Trump administration “has run roughshod over a fundamental tenet of American democracy — that the military should not be involved in domestic law enforcement.”
A federal judge on Tuesday said the president’s decision in June to deploy Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, a 19th century law that limits the use of the military for domestic purposes. The White House has appealed that ruling.
The D.C. National Guard has been deployed in the city since Aug. 11, a key piece of Mr. Trump’s federal crime crackdown that’s begun in the district and may spread to other cities. The Trump administration has cited a dip in crime in the nation’s capital since the federal takeover, which includes federal law enforcement and federal control of the Metropolitan Police Department. Mr. Trump has floated sending federal law enforcement to cities including New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco.
Governors would have to extend National Guard deployments from their states, if they choose to do so. In addition to the six states who have sent their Guard members to D.C., Georgia and South Dakota sent a small number of troops, largely to help with public affairs. State governors, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, have begun to visit their Guard members posted to D.C.
Ed O’Keefe
contributed to this report.
