Topline
Disputes over the deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.reignited this week following the shooting of two soldiers that left one dead and the other in critical condition as of Friday, underscoring questions around President Donald Trump’s deployment of the guard throughout the U.S.
Key Facts
The New York Times reported Wednesday on a memo from August warning National Guard troops of a “heightened threat environment” and warned specifically of threats based on “grievance based violence” as well as acts inspired by foreign terrorism.
A member of the California National Guard told the Times they were not surprised by the shooting.The soldier, who deployed with the National Guard to Los Angeles this summer, said he and his commanders worried their mission “increased our risk of us shooting civilians or civilians taking shots at us.”
Sen.Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., defended the presence of West Virginia National Guardsmen in D.C.
in an interview with Fox News, saying troops are “there to indicate to citizens, to visitors, to dignitaries, to whoever is in the capital city, that peace is there and you’re going to feel safe.”
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, snapped back at a reporter who asked about criticism against Trump’s deployment of the National Guard, saying in a Thursday press conference, “I don’t even wanna talk about whether they should have been there.”
Pirro said, “We ought to kiss the ground and thank god” Trump deployed the troops in D.C., noting the city’s 2024 homicide rate of 27.3 per 100,000 people, which marked a steep decline from 2023, when the rate was 39.4 per 100,000 people, according to a February report from the Rochester Institute of Technology.
In a statement condemning the shooting of the two National Guardsmen, veteran-led grassroots movement Common Defense said the two soldiers, who hail from West Virginia, should have not been deployed to D.C., calling the deployment of troops in D.C.
a “political stunt.”
Army veteran Perry O’Brien Hill, Common Defense’s senior campaigns director, added in the statement, “As veterans who have served overseas, we have tried to sound the warning that this administration is trying to manufacture a war on American streets.”
Former assistant Department of Homeland Security secretary Juliette Kayyem told PBS the “politics have thrust the National Guard into this gray zone that they’re not built for, but that has made them vulnerable,” referring to troops who are not typically tasked with non-military patrolling of metropolitan areas for the sake of crime prevention.
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Big Number
2,188.
That is how many National Guard soldiers are assigned to D.C.as of November.That number is slated to increase, as Trump said this week he will deploy an additional 500 troops to the Capital.
Tangent
A federal judge found Trump’s National Guard deployment in D.C.illegal last week, saying the Department of Defense “exceeded the bounds of their authority” when the troops were deployed for “non-military, crime deterrence missions” without a request from Washington, D.C., authorities.The Trump administration is expected to appeal.Trump has run into several legal hurdles while deploying or attempting to deploy the National Guard in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon.
Key Background
The National Guard troops were shot in a targeted attack that left them both in critical condition Wednesday, while the suspect sustained injuries believed not to be life-threatening.
Sarah Beckstrom, 20, one of the two soldiers targeted, died from her injuries Thursday.The other soldier, Andrew Wolfe, remains in critical condition as of Friday.Pirro said, “We still have hope” Wolfe will survive.The suspect has been identified as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, an Afghan national who lives in Bellingham, Washington.
Lakanwal, who worked with CIA-backed military units in Afghanistan, entered the U.S.in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which evacuated and resettled Afghan nationals after the U.S.withdrew from Afghanistan.
Lakanwal was granted asylum by the Trump administration in April.Following the shooting, Trump said in a lengthy, blistering social media post Thursday night he will “permanently pause migration” from all “Third World Countries.” The president also vowed to remove any immigrant who is “not a net asset to the United States, or is incapable of loving our Country,” saying he will “end all Federal benefits and subsidies to noncitizens.”
Further Reading
D.C.Shooting Live Updates: Suspect Will Face First-Degree Murder (Forbes)
Trump Says He’ll ‘Permanently Pause’ Migration From ‘Third World Countries’ (Forbes).
