LWVUS joined an open letter supporting DC and marking one year of national guard deployment in the city.
An Open Letter Supporting a Free DC and Marking One Year of Occupation
August 11, 2026
To the US Congress, the Nation's Governors, and the People of the World:
The capital of the United States, Washington, D.C. has been under military and federal surge force occupation for one year. Since August 2025, the Trump administration has deployed, at times, more than 5,000 armed National Guard troops onto the streets of the nation's capital, with the complicity of dozens of Governors who command those troops. This deployment costs American taxpayers up to $3 million per day, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Niskanen Center and the Center for American Progress have confirmed the military occupation produces no reduction in violent crime.
The human cost runs deep. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have carried out over 20,000 extrajudicial immigration arrests in the region, and federal agents have arrested 13,000 additional individuals in DC alone. The Brookings Institution estimates that nearly 7 of every 1,000 children in DC have had their parents detained and/or deported. National Guard troops have detained and assaulted individuals in parks, on transit, and even on their private property. At the hands of armed federal agents, people in DC have been shot at, flash-grenaded at traffic stops, tased at a bus stop, and paralyzed from a high-speed chase. Federal agents have also killed two parents in DC: On February 11, 2026, U.S. Marshals shot and killed Julian Bailey in DC’s Mayfair neighborhood. On June 20, 2026, a U.S. Park Police high-speed pursuit killed Nolberto Meza in Woodley Park. The "DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force" that operates these forces has offered no accountability and no apology for their killings and kidnappings. Local laws limiting vehicular pursuits or requiring body worn cameras carry no weight when federal forces act as an occupying army.
In addition to the military occupation, the current House of Representatives has attacked DC Home Rule, as established in 1974, with unprecedented severity and complete disregard for the well being or the wishes of the people of the District of Columbia. The Trump administration has also made open threats against Janeese Lewis George, the Democratic nominee and presumptive incoming Mayor of Washington, D.C. The voters of DC chose their leaders in an election. The President of the United States has no say in the matter because he is not registered to vote in DC. Nonetheless, the administration has made threats and has signaled its intent to maintain a military occupation through January 2029 — a declaration that amounts to a confession that the occupation never was related to crime reduction or America’s 250th celebration. Announcing that troops will be here through January of 2029 also evokes Trump’s role in instigating the violent attempt to prevent the certifi cation of the 2020 presidential election on January 6, 2021.
Recognizing that U.S. democracy is safer if the people in the capital have equal protection under the law, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 51, legislation granting D.C. statehood, in both 2020 and in 2021. That bill and its companion in the Senate preserve a federal district — including the White House, the National Mall, and the Capitol — under Congressional authority, but give the residents of DC the same rights as other citizens. Full autonomy through statehood will protect the people of the District of Columbia as well as the right to peaceably assemble in DC and petition the government for a redress of grievances. That right belongs to the people of DC, as it belongs to every American, and is currently under threat after a year of military occupation of DC.
Given this context, we, the undersigned will:
1. Oppose the military occupation of the District of Columbia and rise for full support of DC statehood as the path to self-determination and equal rights for its 700,000 residents.
2. Demand that every Governor serving as Commander in Chief of deployed National Guard troops withdraw those troops from Washington, D.C. immediately.
3. Call on every Member of Congress to honor the principle of consent of the governed and commit to not overturning or interfering with Washington, D.C.'s locally enacted laws. Congress' constitutional jurisdiction over the 9 NPR. (2026, July 14). "Trump's National Guard deployment in D.C. has been extended until 2029."
8 FOX 5. (2026, Jun 28). "Trump attacks DC mayoral nominee Janeese Lewis George online."
7 The 119th Congress has introduced more than 80 bills that attack DC in some way. See a summary of them at
FreeDCproject.org/Congress.
federal enclave should not be used as an excuse to take away the authority DC has over its own affairs.
4. Urge the federal government to dismantle the "DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force" and the Joint Task Force created to operationalize it, to end the summer surge of forces in Washington, D.C., and to cease all ICE, DHS, DEA, IRS, FBI, Park Police, and other federal surge traffi c checkpoints, high speed chases, and raids on homes and workplaces.
5. Encourage our communities to use their First Amendment rights in the District of Columbia to peaceably assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances.
6. Publicly oppose any effort to prevent the seating of duly elected offi cials representing the District of Columbia, or any other jurisdiction, and commit our resources to ensuring that every duly elected offi cial is sworn in and seated.
Democracy requires that the governed give their consent. The people of the District of Columbia, and the people of the United States of America, deserve nothing less.
Signed, Free DC and:
National Organizations