Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, who has denied crime is out of control in her city, described the troop deployment as an "authoritarian push". Trump, a Republican, has also threatened similar deployments against New York and Chicago, two other Democratic-controlled cities.

The presence of National Guard troops in Washington, DC, is expected to expand Wednesday evening, according to a White House official, as President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s law enforcement continues to take shape.

While it is mostly called to respond to state-level emergencies, the National Guard has also been called to enforce the law. The DC National Guard is primarily under federal control.