National Guard troops deployed to Washington are not only sweeping away crime, but also cleaning up the streets of the nation’s capital.
The D.C. National Guard, ordered by President Donald Trump on Aug. 11 to aid law enforcement efforts after a declared public crime emergency, posted a video Saturday on X showing some members holding and filling garbage bags and cleaning benches, The Hill reported Wednesday.
“Today here, we are right outside the waterfront,” said a service member with “Tuggle” on her uniform in the video. “Had everyone with gloves and trash bags and all the materials they needed and instructions to head out and pick up the trash.
“Everyone takes pride in being here, takes pride in being together, working as a team and really focusing on the mission, whatever that may be.”
Said a service member with “Harris” on his uniform: “Growing up as a D.C. native from southeast D.C., it feels good to be out here cleaning the streets [and] making D.C. beautiful again. I feel like D.C. really needed this, and I feel like it’s only going to get better and better from here.”
Officials told WRC-TV in Washington the effort is part of a broader beautification operation aimed at community restoration and improvement and that members will complete more than 40 tasks at sites across the district.
Officials wouldn’t offer details about how often troops have been asked to clean up areas of the city.
More than 2,200 service members have been deployed, including 929 members of the D.C. National Guard and 1,305 guardsmen from Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
Attorney General Pam Bondi posted Wednesday on X that since the troops were deployed, there have been 1,178 arrests with 123 illegal guns seized. In addition, no homicides had been reported since the troops were deployed — until one Tuesday.
In recent days, National Guard members have been photographed picking up leaves around the Tidal Basin — a central feature of the city’s landscape south of the National Mall in West Potomac Park — and collecting soda bottles, WRC reported.
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