The 150 Ohio National Guard troops deployed to Washington D.C. were expected to come home just after the Thanksgiving holiday. But their mission – which the Trump administration has said was to fight crime, though troops have been seen landscaping and picking up trash - has been extended.
The D.C. deployed troops were set to return Nov. 30, but that’s been extended to Feb. 28.
“We're there and in support of the D.C. police and really of the D.C. Guard,” said Gov. Mike DeWine in an interview. “We’re going to stay there for a while.”
DeWine said the state has been switching out guard members, bringing some home and replacing them with other volunteers since they were first deployed to the nation’s capital in August.
“People have lives and they have families and they have jobs,” DeWine said. “And so we're going to continue to go through the process of switching some out when they need to come home and they want to come home.”
The Ohio Adjutant General’s office confirms Ohio will provide 150 guardmembers through Feb. 28.
DeWine has said none of those deployed have jobs in law enforcement, since he didn’t want to impact local police and sheriff’s offices.
The 150 Ohio guardmembers are part of a force of around 2,300 that were requested from eight states.
