FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeannette O’Connor, [email protected],
Amy Vruno, Executive Director of DC Vote, Available Today to Comment on Secretary Hegseth’s National Guard Event at Meridian Hill Park
Washington, DC (July 2, 2026) — Secretary of War Pete Hegseth joined National Guard members this morning at Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park to showcase the Trump administration’s D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. Amy Vruno, Executive Director of DC Vote, is available to discuss what having this level of troop presence means for DC residents and home rule.
“Today’s photo op only happens because of DC’s second-class status,” said Vruno. “In every state, the governor decides when the National Guard deploys. In DC, the President can decide, and the 700,000 taxpaying Americans who live here have no say, no U.S. Senators, and no vote in Congress to object. Nearly 5,000 troops patrolling our neighborhoods is not beautification or safety. It is what federal control of an American neighborhoods looks like.
“A man who calls himself the ‘Secretary of War’ is posing with troops in a park embedded in residential neighborhoods, blocks from elementary, middle and high schools. The surrounding neighborhoods are home to nearly 100,000 DC residents (Columbia Heights, U Street, Mount Pleasant, Adams Morgan, Pleasant Plains, and Kalorama). The park is more than a mile and a half away from the National Mall.”
DC residents have long been demanding statehood so that residential neighborhoods can be free from federal overreach. Residents propose creating a new DC state while preserving a smaller federal district that would include the National Mall and adjacent federal buildings, such as the White House, Supreme Court, and the U.S. Capitol building. This would free the 700,000 DC residents and confer them full rights of Americans and other states.”
“Just weeks after the President threatened to overturn DC’s elections, the administration is using our neighborhood parks as a backdrop for federal military power. The only permanent solution is DC statehood.”
“On top of everything, the federal occupation isn’t working. A new study from the nonpartisan Niskanen Center found the Guard deployment has had little to no effect on violent crime, at a cost to taxpayers of roughly $1.5 million a day. DC’s violent crime was already falling before the troops arrived.”
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Founded in 1998, DC Vote is a national citizen engagement and advocacy organization dedicated to strengthening democracy and securing equality for all in the District of Columbia. Learn more at www.DCVote.org.
