Bringing prominent White House support to the streets of Washington, DC, US Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth have visited with National Guard troops at the city’s main train station.
“We brought some law and order back,” the vice president asserted as protesters chanted “free DC” during the latest tense interlude from President Donald Trump’s crackdown in the nation’s capital on Wednesday.
“We appreciate everything you’re doing,” Vance said as he presented burgers to the troops. Citing the protesters whose shouts echoed through the station, Vance said, “They appear to hate the idea that Americans can enjoy their communities.”
Vance’s and Hegseth’s appearance, which also included White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, was a striking scene that illustrated the Republican administration’s intense focus on the situation in Washington and its willingness to promote an initiative that has polarised the Democratic-led city.
On August 8, federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), began patrolling parts of Washington, DC. Days later, on August 11, President Trump declared a “crime emergency” under Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which temporarily placed the city’s Metropolitan Police under federal authority.
An estimated 1,900 troops are being deployed in DC. More than half are coming from Republican-led states. Besides Union Station, they’ve mostly been spotted around downtown areas, including the National Mall and DC Metro stops.
National Guard armoured vehicle crash
The intersection of life in the city and a military presence produced another striking scene early on Wednesday when an armoured vehicle collided with a civilian car less than a mile (1.6km) from the US Capitol. One person was trapped inside the car after the accident and had to be extricated by emergency responders, according to DC Fire Department spokesman Vito Maggiolo. The person was transported to a hospital with minor injuries.
It was not immediately clear what caused the crash. A video posted online showed the aftermath of the collision, with a tan-coloured armoured vehicle twice the height of a civilian car with a crushed side.
“You come to our city and this is what you do? Seriously?” a woman yelled at the troops in the video.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said more than 550 people have been arrested so far, and the US Marshals Service is offering $500 rewards for information leading to additional arrests. “Together, we will make DC safe again!” Bondi wrote on social media.
Navigating the situation
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, trying to balance the constituency that elected her and the reality in front of her, acknowledged the changing situation in the city as she attended a back-to-school event with teachers and staff.
“This is not the same time, is it, that we experienced in opening school last year,” she said. Bowser said she would focus on the politics and told school employees that “your job is to love on the kids, teach them and make sure that they are prepared and to trust that I’m going to do the right thing for all of us”.
Despite the militarised backdrop, Bowser said it’s important that children “have joy when they approach this school year”. Public schools around Washington reconvene Monday for the fall semester.
The city’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) arrested an average of 61 adults and juveniles per day in 2024, according to city statistics. The Trump administration has not specified whether the arrest totals it has cited include those made by MPD officers or only consist of those made by federal agents.
DC crime rates have remained largely unchanged from a year ago, according to the police department’s weekly statistics.
As of Tuesday, the city’s overall crime rate is down 7 percent year over year, the same percentage as before the crackdown. DC has also experienced the same declines in violent crime and property crime as it did beforehand, according to the data.
Trump has defended his decision to deploy soldiers in the US capital as necessary to stem a wave of violent crime. City officials have rejected that assertion, pointing to federal and city statistics that show violent crime has declined significantly since a spike in 2023.
The president has said, without providing evidence, that the crime data is fraudulent. The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation into whether the numbers were manipulated, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.
Shotguns and rifles
The White House has touted the number of guns that law enforcement has seized since Trump began surging federal agents into the city. In a social media post on Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the operation had taken 76 illegal guns off the streets, along with the more than 500 arrests.
However, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday that federal prosecutors in DC will no longer seek charges against people who violate a local law prohibiting individuals from carrying rifles or shotguns in the nation’s capital.
The decision, which represents a break from the office’s prior policy, comes amid what Trump has described as a crime crackdown in Washington.
The president has deployed hundreds of National Guard troops and federal agents to the city’s streets to combat what he says is rampant crime, in an extraordinary exercise of presidential power.
66 arrests yesterday and 8 illegal firearms seized. One arrest was a warrant on a juvenile for armed robbery in Washington DC.
Thank you to our K9, Red, and all the men and women who continue to work hard so that Americans can feel safe in the nation’s capital! pic.twitter.com/jpcWfTvRhp
— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 20, 2025
In a statement provided to Reuters, US Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said the new policy will not preclude prosecutors from charging people with other illegal firearms crimes, such as a convicted felon found in possession of a gun.
“We will continue to seize all illegal and unlicensed firearms,” she said.
The DC code in question bars anyone from carrying a rifle or shotgun with narrow exceptions. Pirro, a close Trump ally, argued in a statement to the Washington Post that the law violates two US Supreme Court decisions expanding gun rights.
In 2008, the court struck down a separate DC law banning handguns and ruled that individuals have the right to keep firearms in their homes for self-defence. In 2022, the court ruled that any gun-control law must be rooted in the country’s historical traditions to be valid.
Unlike US attorneys in all 50 states, who only prosecute federal offences, the US attorney in Washington prosecutes local crimes as well.