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By Peter Aitken and Gabe Whisnant
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National Guard troops will remain deployed on the streets of Washington, D.C., through the end of the year, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press.
The task force’s orders in Washington had been set to expire in February, after receiving a second extension in October.
Newsweek reached out to the D.C. mayor's office and the White House by email on Friday afternoon for comment.
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Why It Matters
The federal surge of National Guard started in August 2025 when President Donald Trump announced his plan to crackdown on crime in the nation's capital. About 2,400 Guard members have been assigned to patrol duties, including picking up trash.
The deployment saw two West Virginia soldiers shot in November, one of whom later died.
However, Trump declared the mission a success and has repeatedly claimed that crime has vanished from the city.
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What To Know
A memo, reviewed by the AP and signed by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, said the mission’s conditions warranted extending the deployment past the end of next month to support Trump’s “ongoing efforts to restore law and order.”
The news comes as Trump recently stepped back from plans to send Guard units to several major cities and from threats to invoke the Insurrection Act in response to protests in Minneapolis—seemingly amid various legal challenges against his ability and authority to deploy the troops.
Late last year, the U.S. Supreme Court handed the president a win in his battle to keep the Guard deployed in D.C., halting a lower court ruling that would have forced the troops to leave the capital by December 11. Meanwhile, since Washington, D.C., is a congressionally established federal district, Trump has much greater control over the police and D.C. National Guard, the AP reported.
Trump expanded the deployment following November's fatal shooting of Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump in a Truth Social post written in December 2025: "We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact. Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in. We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again - Only a question of time! It is hard to believe that these Democrat Mayors and Governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made???"
This article includes reporting by The Associated Press.
Update 1/16/26, 6:33 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information.
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