West Virginia National Guard troops are now being sent to Washington, DC, in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to federally take over law enforcement in the city.

Morrisey said the deployment includes hundreds of “skilled personnel” at the request of the Trump administration.

As the Trump administration asserts control over the Washington, D.C., police force to address crime, Maryland Democrats say it has overlooked an obvious first step: the city’s budget.

Trump has long focused on crime and cleanliness in DC and other cities, sparring periodically with Democratic mayors during his first term over law enforcement. In the summer of 2020, he weighed a federal takeover of the DC police to quell demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd.

The development came after Washington D.C.'s attorney general filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The Justice Department said it would clarify the DEA Administrator as liaison between local and federal officials rather than taking over the police department.

President Trump has taken over D.C. police and directed National Guard members, FBI personnel and other federal agents to patrol the city in an effort to crackdown on crime in the Capital, despite falling crime rates.

National Guard troops have begun 24-hour operations around Washington, D.C., as of Thursday morning, according to a Department of Defense official. It's part of President Donald Trump's plan to address crime in Washington by taking over the city's police department and deploying the National Guard troops.