Overview

• Joint Task Force–DC reports 2,234 Guard members on duty, including units from Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.
• Troops were observed picking up trash in Lafayette Park and assigned over 40 “beautification” tasks such as mulching, graffiti removal, and clearing homeless encampments around the Mall and Tidal Basin.
• Cleanup teams are unarmed, while some patrol units have been authorized to carry M4 rifles and M17 pistols under Title 32; service members can detain suspects but police handle arrests.
• Attorney General Pam Bondi says the operation has produced 1,178 arrests and 123 seized firearms, including 84 arrests and eight guns confiscated on Tuesday.
• Legal scrutiny persists, with Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui calling aspects of the federal case handling “not legally acceptable.”