The United States National Guard on Sunday began carrying weapons in Washington, DC.

US President Donald Trump deployed the troops this month as part of a crackdown on what he calls rampant crime in the US capital city.

"Starting the late evening of August 24, 2025, JTF-DC service members began carrying their service-issued weapon," the Joint Task Force-DC said in a statement.

Over 2,200 soldiers have been assigned to the task force in Washington DC.

The statement said the troops were only allowed to use force "as a last resort and solely in response to an imminent threat of death or serious bodily harm."

A Defense Department official, speaking to news agency Associated Press on condition on anonymity, said some units would be armed for certain missions.

He said that some would be carrying handguns while others would carry rifles, but those working on transportation and administration would likely be unarmed.

Why is the National Guard being deployed?

The deploment is part of Trump's efforts to override local law enforcement agencies and government bodies to implement his orders on tackling crime in Democrat-led cities.

He earlier called the crackdown "Liberation Day," claiming the city needed rescuing from "crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor."

However, federal data contradicts Trump's claim, with statistics showing that DC's violent crime is at a 30-year low.

Critics say the figures show that there is no emergency that requires a military presence in the capital. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has called it an "authoritarian push."

Earlier on Sunday, Trump threatened to deploy the National Guard to another Democrat stronghold, the Maryland city of Baltimore.

Trump has also said he could deploy soldiers to Chicago, a move which the city's mayor Brandon Johnson warned could "inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement." 

The US president first used these Presidential powers in June in Los Angeles, where he deployed 5,000 troops to quell protests against immigration enforcement raids.