National Guard troops will remain on the streets of Washington, D.C., until the end of 2026, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
The memo, signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and dated Wednesday, said “the conditions of the mission” warranted an extension past the end of next month to continue supporting President Donald Trump’s “ongoing efforts to restore law and order.”
The AP report said Trump had at least temporarily dropped his push to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, after legal challenges were brought in response to that effort.
The memo also arrived as Trump backed off Friday from a threat the day earlier to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to quell protests in Minnesota, the AP said.
Because Washington is a congressionally established federal district, the AP report said Trump has much greater control over the police and the D.C. National Guard, and that control has enabled him to sidestep legal challenges he has faced in some states.
Trump activated 800 members of the D.C. National Guard in August under an emergency order, and the AP said those numbers were quickly augmented by troops from states run by Republican governors.
There are currently about 2,600 National Guard troops in Washington, with about 700 from D.C. and the rest from 11 states, including Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi and Oklahoma, according to the AP.
The AP said the mission was broadened from an initial crime-fighting mandate to include city beautification. In one of its last updates, the task force overseeing the mission said that in early October troops cleared 1,150 bags of trash, spread 1,045 cubic yards of mulch, removed 50 truckloads of plant waste, cleared 7.9 miles of roadway, painted 270 feet of fencing and pruned 400 trees.
The AP also reported that two National Guard troops from West Virginia that were part of the mission in D.C. were shot the day before Thanksgiving. The report said Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, died from her injuries.
In addition to actions in Washington, the AP said Trump had previously federalized National Guard troops to go into Los Angeles in June, after protesters took to the streets in response to a blitz of immigration arrests. It said he ultimately deployed about 4,000 troops and 700 Marines to guard federal buildings and later to protect federal agents as they carried out immigration arrests.
The AP said the force dwindled over time and was removed from the streets in December after a judge ordered control of the California National Guard be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom, and that a federal appellate court upheld the decision.
On Dec. 31, the AP report said, Trump told reporters he was dropping his push, for now, to expand the effort to other cities.