West Virginia said it was deploying 300 to 400 Guard troops, while South Carolina pledged 200 and Ohio says it will send 150 in the coming days.

This action, announced on Saturday, occurred as demonstrators resisted the presence of federal law enforcement and National Guard troops, who had spread across the predominantly Democratic city following President Donald Trump’s executive order to federalize local police forces and activate around 800 members of the District of Columbia National Guard.

On Friday, the administration retracted an order that intended to appoint the Drug Enforcement Administration’s head as an “emergency police commissioner” after legal action was initiated by the district’s chief attorney to challenge it.

Post court hearing, Trump’s attorney general, Pam Bondi, released a memo instructing the Metropolitan Police Department to collaborate with federal immigration enforcement, irrespective of any municipal law.

City officials say they are evaluating how to best comply.

In his order on Monday, Trump declared an emergency due to the “city government’s failure to maintain public order.”

Bondi stated that this cooperation was crucial to prevent disruption to the “federal government’s ability to work effectively in addressing the nation’s overarching interests without our personnel facing rampant violence.”

In communication to the city’s residents, Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, expressed that “our limited self-government has never confronted the type of challenge we are experiencing right now.”

She added that if Washington residents stick together, “we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy — even when we don’t have full access to it.”