Tennessee Dispatches 160 National Guard Personnel to Washington

(MENAFN) Tennessee announced Tuesday it will dispatch approximately 160 National Guard personnel to Washington, D.C., following President Donald Trump’s assertion that crime and homelessness have spiraled out of control in the U.S. capital.

This announcement comes roughly a week after Trump declared a crime "emergency" in Washington and mobilized about 800 troops from the D.C. National Guard on August 11.

Over the weekend, Republican governors from West Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina committed to sending National Guard troops to the capital. On Monday, Mississippi and Louisiana also confirmed plans to deploy forces to D.C.

The Tennessee troops, from a Republican-led state, are expected to arrive by the end of the week. This could bring the total number of National Guard members in Washington to around 2,000.

These deployments have sparked fierce criticism from Democrats. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, urged her peers Tuesday to resist involvement: "from Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and every other state to reject the temptation to use their soldiers to reinforce a dangerous, politically motivated agenda."

Kelly emphasized that sending National Guard troops to a different jurisdiction "without the request and consent of that state's governor -- or, in this case, the local authorities of Washington, D.C. -- undermines the mission of the National Guard, wastes resources needed for real emergencies, and, perhaps worst of all, adds to the divisiveness that already threatens our United States," she said.

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