More US states send National Guard troops to Washington amid strong backlash

Washington, Aug 20 (IANS) The US state of Tennessee announced that it is sending around 160 National Guard troops to Washington after US President Donald Trump asserted that crime and homelessness have been out of control in the nation's capital.

The latest development came about a week after Trump declared a crime "emergency" in the US capital and deployed around 800 troops from the Washington National Guard on August 11.

Over the weekend, the Republican governors of West Virginia, Ohio and South Carolina pledged to deploy National Guard troops to the national capital. On Monday, Mississippi and Louisiana also said they would deploy National Guard troops to Washington.

The troops from Republican-led Tennessee are expected to arrive by the end of this week. By then, the total number of National Guard troops in Washington could reach around 2,000.

Such moves have drawn strong backlash from Democrats. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, on Tuesday implored her colleagues "from Ohio, West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi and every other state to reject the temptation to use their soldiers to reinforce a dangerous, politically motivated agenda."

To deploy National Guard troops to another jurisdiction, "without the request and consent of that state's governor -- or, in this case, the local authorities of Washington, DC -- undermines the mission of the National Guard, wastes resources needed for real emergencies, and, perhaps worst of all, adds to the divisiveness that already threatens our United States," Kelly said.

--IANS

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