President Donald Trump has deployed approximately 4,500 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., as part of a stated effort to combat crime in the nation's capital. A Reuters review of District of Columbia Superior Court records found that these soldiers were mentioned in 1.3% of criminal cases filed since their arrival in August 2025. The deployment currently outnumbers the city's 3,200 police officers.
The administration informed Congress that the deployment costs approximately $1.65 million per day, a figure that was provided before the number of troops was doubled this summer. The Trump administration projects the total cost of the mission will reach $1.4 billion by the end of 2029. While the White House stated the effort has driven down crime and improved quality of life, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has described the deployment as problematic.
Court records indicate that National Guard members, who are deputized as U.S. Marshals, primarily perform "presence patrols" intended to deter crime. In the 217 cases where their involvement was noted, soldiers single-handedly stopped suspects in 62 instances and assisted police in 43 others. The majority of these incidents involved minor offenses such as shoplifting, turnstile jumping, or curfew enforcement. Reuters found no record of soldier involvement in neighborhoods where 82% of the city's 859 murders occurred over the past five years.
The scale of the deployment, involving 4,500 troops, means there are roughly 1.4 soldiers for every one of the city's 3,200 police officers. For an average D.C. household, this federal intervention translates to a higher concentration of security personnel in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods near the city core, while residents in high-crime areas reported seeing no soldier presence. A study by the Niskanen Center found that while the deployment was associated with a decrease in stolen cars, it had no measurable impact on violent crime rates.
The use of the National Guard for routine patrols sets a precedent for federal military involvement in domestic law enforcement, a role traditionally reserved for local police. The Defense Department clarifies that these soldiers can detain suspects but lack full arrest powers, requiring them to wait for Metropolitan Police Department officers to process any detained individuals. The deployment is scheduled to continue through the end of the Trump presidency in 2029, though specific future troop levels have not been disclosed.
What happens next: The deployment is currently active and slated to continue for three more years. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the District of Columbia Superior Court will continue to process the cases involving Guard interventions. Further budgetary updates regarding the $1.4 billion projected cost are expected as the mission continues through 2029. Additionally, small National Guard deployments authorized by the president in Memphis and New Orleans remain in place.