On August 11th, 2025, over two thousand soldiers dressed in camouflaged uniforms stomped into Washington D.C., patrolling surrounding areas such as the National Mall, over ten different Metro stations, federal buildings, and historical monuments. President Donald Trump signed the “Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia” bill, deploying these soldiers with the goals of decreasing crime rates and beautifying the district. However, many citizens have questions about these efforts. Are these goals being met? How do students and locals actually feel about the heavy policing of the district?
The sudden appearance of the United States Park Police and the armed National Guard in D.C. stirred great concern over the necessity of the order and concern over the militia power the president can wield against their own people, even here in the Eleanor Roosevelt High School community. Ms. Gabrielle Gee, a history teacher at ERHS, comments that she “find[s] [the placement of the National Guard] unnecessary,” and that the deployment is “just a show of power from our current administration meant to fearmonger the general public into thinking that DC is a dangerous place.” Vivian Nguyen, a senior student, supports Gee’s claim about fearmongering, saying that “it just [feels] like an invasion of privacy, because it [feels] like we [are] going into martial law,” and that the placement “[makes her] feel very unsafe.”
The presence of the National Guard in D.C. also seems to be jarring to the communities in it. Ms. Amie Littman, an English teacher at ERHS, comments that she “typically see[s] the National Guard at popular metro stations, the weekend farmer’s market, and once I saw a bunch outside of Union Station with tanks.” Seeing the National Guard in these sections of the city was “especially strange to see,” according to Littman. Gee and Nguyen also had strange experiences regarding the National Guard’s placement in their communities. Gee states that when she attended the H Street Festival, “there was a shooting, [but] there were no National Guard in sight.” Nguyen claims that business owners may “not [be] making money.. because they have the soldiers walking around.. [they’re] scaring everyone away, and [businesses] are going to struggle financially.”
Clearly, the D.C. community and its surrounding area think that the deployment of the National Guard isn’t just to keep the citizens safe from a “developing crime rate”, it is a power trip taken by the U.S. government to instill fear into citizens.
