With no end in sight to their deployment, National Guard troops roam Washington

WASHINGTON (AP) — The cherry blossoms draw more than a million visitors to Washington’s Tidal Basin annually. This year was no different, except some strolling the area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Thomas Jefferson Memorial were dressed in camouflage -- and armed.

Eight months after President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency in the nation's capital and called up the National Guard, more than 2,500 troops remain, in a deployment that has grown increasingly routine, with no clear end in sight.

Deployments to other cities have ended or been paused by courts in California and Illinois, while more limited operations are ongoing in cities including New Orleans. But in Washington, guard members still walk city streets and patrol metro stations, tourist attractions, neighborhoods and parks.

Even with pivotal elections looming this year, that lingering presence is barely mentioned in city council meetings or by candidates running for mayor and Congress — perhaps reflecting both competing priorities and a sense that local officials have little power to stop it. Unless the courts step in, the guard will remain at least through the end of the year, if not longer.

“Taxpayers are paying more than a million dollars a day to have them walk around,” said Phil Mendelson, chairman of the District of Columbia Council, in an emailed response to questions.

And, he said, “the presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look.”

Trump, a Republican, issued an executive order in August to deal with what he called a crime emergency. The order brought the guard in, along with hundreds of additional federal law enforcement officers.

Over the months, guard members have responded to medical emergencies, assisted with arrests, helped local police enforce the city’s juvenile curfew and carried out beautification projects. The D.C. Guard helped with snow removal during a major storm in January.

While the guard members do not make arrests, the Trump administration argues their support to the broader mission has helped reduce crime. The White House said 12,000 arrests have been made by the task force since operations began, including 62 known gang members, and thousands of illegal firearms were seized.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said the president's crime task force in the city has “yielded tremendous results for local communities.”

“Every local leader should want to mimic this success in their own locales,” Jackson said.

But officials disagree over how much credit the deployment can be given in Washington, a heavily Democratic city. Figures show crime was already on the decline before, although those figures are being investigated after claims arose against local police that they may have been manipulated.

A court battle over the guard deployment is ongoing, and without a judge stepping in it could go on as long as the White House wants.

Asked how long the guard deployment would continue, Jackson said in an email that there were “no announcements to make.”

The office of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, which is challenging the deployment in court, declined to comment, citing the pending lawsuit. The National Guard Bureau at the Pentagon did not answer requests for comment.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is not running for reelection, has walked a fine line on the guard's deployment and the broader federal intervention, at once appearing to work with the president but also pushing back on some of his demands, like local cooperation for immigration enforcement.

Leading candidates to replace Bowser and the city's 18-term non-voting delegate in Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton, have focused on affordability, statehood and trying to hold federal agencies accountable for their role in the surge.

The District Council, which includes at least four candidates for mayor or delegate, unanimously approved a measure to increase transparency in federal law enforcement operations. While the military deployment is mentioned at times on campaign websites and in ads, it isn't currently a central campaign issue.

Other pressures on the city, including unemployment and lost revenue tied to federal workforce cuts, have taken priority. The city’s primaries are June 16, along with a special election for an at-large city council seat.

Some residents say frustrations over the guard eased after two members of the West Virginia contingent were ambushed just blocks from the White House, killing Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and severely injuring her colleague.

Kevin Cataldo, a neighborhood commissioner who joined the local Metropolitan Police on a walkalong in his neighborhood recently, said he already treated the guard members courteously, making a point to acknowledge them because they did not choose to be in the city. The shooting ambush deepened his sympathies for them. “That was just horrible,” he said.

District Council member Brianne Nadeau said constituents continue to ask why the guard is still around but the complaints are far fewer than at the start of the deployment.

“It would be great if the federal government would use its money and resources to help the District on the things we need help with and not act like an invading army,” Nadeau said in an email.

Fellow council members and mayoral candidates Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie have raised similar issues, including the high costs.

There has been little recent public polling specifically on attitudes toward the presence of uniformed personnel in U.S. cities.

Several groups are planning protests and other events on May 1 to oppose the federal surge, including the continuing presence of the National Guard, said Keya Chatterjee co-founder and executive director of Free DC, an advocacy group that fights for the city’s autonomy. Among the goals: “an end to the military occupation of D.C. before the June election.”

Chatterjee said normalizing the guard’s presence makes it easier to suppress dissent and “tilt the playing field” in elections.

The presence of guns and military personnel could create an intimidating atmosphere during elections, Chatterjee said. Citizens have to step in and “number one, we have to help our neighbors feel safe voting.”

Scott Michelman, legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia, said the situation underscores the city’s limits on self-governance.

Washington is a federal district with limited autonomy where Congress retains authority to review the city’s laws and control its budget and where the president has direct control of the D.C. Guard and can authorize an indefinite military deployment with little effective resistance from local authorities.

“We should have local control and local democratic accountability for the people who enforce our laws,” Michelman said. “D.C. is uniquely disempowered in our system in many ways.”

This story has been corrected to show the spelling of the Free DC co-founder’s surname is Chatterjee, not Chatterjay.

FILE National Guard patrol the Washington Mall, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, April 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)

A tourist asks members of the Florida National Guard for directions on the National Mall, across from the Washington Monument, Friday April 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - A member of the National Guard rides the Metro, March 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert, File)

FILE - Members of the Mississippi National Guard patrol among the cherry blossom trees along the tidal basin, March 24, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Members of the Florida National Guard pass by tourists on a sidewalk Friday April 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

National Guard patrol the Washington Mall, with the U.S. Capitol in the background, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

A touris ask members of the Florida National Guard for directions on the National Mall, across from the Washington Monument, Friday April 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Members of the Florida National Guard pass by tourists on a sidewalk Friday April 17, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

HONG KONG (AP) — He knows what he will see and he’s already hurting, but he has to go back.

For the first time since Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades engulfed his apartment building in November, Keung Mak will step into his former home again Monday. But he expected little remained. A photo from his social worker had already shown the devastation.

The ceiling of the apartment where he and his wife lived for over 40 years and raised their children was burned so badly that steel rebar was visible. The floor was littered with broken tiles, and parts of the apartment needed reinforcement to prevent collapse.

“My heart is heavy, I’m very disappointed. I didn’t expect the first floor would be burned like this,” Mak, 78, said ahead of returning.

The fire spread rapidly across seven of the eight buildings in the apartment complex in the suburban district of Tai Po, killing 168 people. Starting Monday, the thousands of residents displaced by the fire were returning to see what is left of their homes and retrieve their belongings. The process is expected to continue into early May.

As the investigation into the cause of the fire continues, survivors have been living as best they can, scattered across the city, many in temporary housing as they wait to find out where they can resettle.

The exteriors of some buildings remained blackened from the flames, a reminder of the tragedy.

The return will be particularly difficult for many of the complex's older residents, who made up over a third of some 4,600 people who lived there before the blaze.

With elevators out of service, some have been training to improve their fitness in preparation for climbing the stairs up the 31-story buildings.

Hong Kong Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said over 1,400 people registered for the return are 65 or older, public broadcaster Radio Television Hong Kong reported.

He later told reporters about 270 people would return to the complex Monday. Some residents remained silent as they left.

A man who refused to give his name, citing his preference not to disclose personal details, said their belongings were burned with nothing much left, because their wood flooring might have helped spread the blaze in the apartment. His family just went back and commemorated, he said.

There were many items in Mak's apartment that the family cherishes and longs to retrieve: a fishing rod Mak's son bought him as a gift; wedding photos from half a century ago; letters from their son from years past. They believe almost all of it is destroyed.

“A lot of things with commemorative value are all gone,” said Mak's wife, Kit Chan, 74. “Not even a single piece of paper will be left.”

Residents will typically be allowed to stay in their apartments for up to three hours, with up to four people entering. In some severely damaged units, only one person can go in.

With only two people allowed in due to the condition of their apartment, Mak and his son will go back. Chan hopes authorities can let her take a look too.

Cyrus Ng, 39, lived on the 10th floor of the Wang Fuk Court complex with his parents for over a decade before moving out.

In the immediate aftermath of the fire, he couldn’t sleep, feeling angry, sad and worried about his parents. Nearly five months later, he is more emotionally settled but has not fully accepted what happened.

“We know there are suspicious issues behind this,” he said. “I hope we can really find the truth.”

A lawyer representing an independent committee conducting an ongoing inquiry into the fire’s cause has said almost all fire safety devices in the apartment buildings failed on the day of the blaze because of human error.

Ng has mixed feelings about returning next week to their apartment, which was spared the worst damage. He fears the emotional impact on his parents, but looks forward to the chance to retrieve their title deed, old photos, clothes and other valuable items.

He also said he is worried about theft after months of vacancy. Police arrested three men in March on suspicion of stealing from the site.

The government previously said repairing the damaged buildings cost-effectively would be difficult. Officials were inclined to demolish the seven fire-ravaged buildings, and have proposed to buy back the homeownership rights from the fire victims.

They cited results from a residents' survey, dashing hopes for those who want their homes rebuilt.

Some residents questioned that stance. Data from the fire inquiry showed that only half of some 1,700 apartments in the seven buildings were damaged, to varying degrees.

Ng wondered if some of the buildings could be repaired to allow some residents to return, though his parents were already considering the government’s offer of an apartment elsewhere. He plans to take photos of his apartment during his return to document its condition and help prove that some homes were unaffected.

Other residents who lived in the only building in the complex that escaped the fire face the trauma of living with nightmarish memories.

Stephanie Leung, a resident of that block, is reluctant to live in the same apartment again. She said her family would face great mental stress every time they looked out over the seven other buildings where their former schoolmates or friends died.

She hopes the government will include her block in the same plan as the other buildings, while allowing those who want to remain to stay.

“Whenever I go back, I want to cry,” she said.

A member of the Mak family takes pictures of a charred family album found at their flat at Wang Fuk Court during an interview, in Hong Kong, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/ Chan Long Hei)

Residents of Wang Fuk Court return to their flats and retrieve belongings five months after a deadly fire in Hong Kong Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

Government workers assist residents of Wang Fuk Court to retrieve their belongings as they return to their flat five months after a deadly fire in Hong Kong Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

Residents of Wang Fuk Court return to their flats and retrieve belongings five months after the deadly fire in Hong Kong Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/ Chan Long Hei)

A resident of Wang Fuk Court retrieves belongings five months after the deadly fire in Hong Kong Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

FILE - People offer flowers and pray for the victims near the site of Wednesday's fire at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)

FILE - Smoke rises after a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories, Nov. 26 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)

FILE - People stand amid donated supplies following the fire that started Wednesday at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories, Friday, Nov. 28 2025. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei, File)

Resident Cyrus Ng poses for photos at a park near Wang Fuk Court, the apartment complex hit by Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades, Monday, April 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Kanis Leung)