Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is deploying the Georgia National Guard to Washington D.C. to support the Joint Task Force-District of Columbia operations as part of President Donald Trump’s initiative to restore public safety.
Approximately 316 Guardsmen, including 300 soldiers and 16 support staff, will be mobilized in and around Washington, D.C., in response to Trump’s Executive Order declaring a crime emergency in the nation’s capital.
The additional 300 servicemembers will be mobilized in mid-September and will join more than 2,200 Guardsmen, including 1,300 from GOP-led states.
“Georgia is proud to stand with the Trump administration in its mission to ensure the security and beauty of our nation’s capital,” Kemp said in a press release. “We share a commitment to upholding public safety and are grateful to these brave Guardsmen and women, for the families that support them, and for their dedication to service above self. As they have demonstrated again and again, our Georgia Guard is well equipped to fulfill both this mission and its obligations to the people of our state.”
An additional 16 Guard soldiers have already been sent to serve as medical, PA, and MP support staff to the operation. The servicemembers were sent to the Joint Base Anacostia-Boiling in Washington, D.C., and will work with other military personnel, but are not expected to have any direct interaction with civilians.
The deployment is separate from the Trump administration’s request for support with Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) operations in Georgia. Service members supporting ICE operations are not armed or in the field and perform only administrative and logistical tasks.
In March, Trump established a task force to combat crime and utilized law enforcement to restore order and improve the city’s infrastructure.
“I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN!” Trump said in a statement. “Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again.”
While GOP-led states such as Georgia are supporting Trump’s efforts, others disagree with the actions.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been pushing back against Trump’s plan to send the National Guard to Chicago as early as this weekend, pledging to “hold the line” against the deployment. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnston recently signed an executive order preventing local police from working with federal agents.
U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, of Maryland has also pushed back against possible deployment in Baltimore.
Democrats point to the proposed deployments mostly to blue states, noting that many red states are home to cities with higher crime rates. Jackson, Mississippi, for example has the highest murder rate in the nation. And eight of the cities with the top 10 highest murder rates in the nation are located in red states, according to The Hill.
CNN also reports that morale among National Guardsmen deployed in D.C. is beginning to weaken amid deployment uncertainty and frustration with some menial tasks, such as picking up trash.
The Georgia Guard, which has more than 14,000 soldiers and airmen, has a history of assisting with federal, state, and local agencies during emergency situations, not only in the Peach State and the U.S. but also in allied countries around the world, according to Kemp’s office.
