One year ago today, President Donald Trump announced a "public safety emergency" in Washington, D.C., leading to the deployment of nearly 2,000 National Guard members to the nation's capital. But what was meant to be a temporary measure has ballooned into a multiyear campaign costing around $2.1 billion, despite significant drops in crime and ongoing civil liberty concerns.
In August 2025, Trump issued an executive order declaring a "crime emergency in the District of Columbia," following the assault and robbery of Edward "Big Balls" Coristine, a former engineer for the Department of Government Efficiency. Within days, 450 federal law enforcement officers and nearly 2,000 National Guard members, including troops from Republican-led states, were patrolling the streets to "restore law and order" and address "the epidemic of crime in our Nation's capital."
