More than 2,000 members of the National Guard stationed in Washington, D.C., are set to be there until the end of the year.
But the around 150 Guardsmen and women from Ohio won’t be among them.
Guard troops from various states were sent to major cities—including Los Angeles and Washington—last fall at President Donald Trump’s orders in an effort the administration said was to stamp out crime.
In 2024, however, the violent crime rate was higher in Cleveland than it was in Washington D.C., according to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data. Cincinnati and Columbus saw lower violent crime rates than both cities.
The Statehouse News Bureau asked Gov. Mike DeWine on Friday whether DeWine was on board with the latest extension of their services.
“The (Ohio) National Guard will be coming home next month,” DeWine said Jan. 30. “They’ll be done in February.”
DeWine has defended his decision to send to Washington the Guard, who the Secretary of the Army requested for 30 days in August. He said then he has fulfilled similar requests for governors outside of the state and mayors inside it, from both political parties.
The governors of West Virginia, Tennessee and half a dozen other GOP-led states also sent Guard troops to Washington. In November, a gunman shot two Guard members from West Virginia in a targeted attack near the White House. 20-year-old Sarah Beckstrom later died from her injuries.
Democratic politicians and progressive organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have denounced the federal militarization of the Guard.
