August 24, 2025
DC children walk to school past armed soldiers in "involuntary military occupation"
Military occupation traumatizes generation of DC children
🛡️National Security✊Civil Rights🏙️Local Issues🎓Education
Washington DC students returned to school in August 2025 under armed National Guard patrols as over 1,000 troops with loaded weapons conducted what DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb called an "involuntary military occupation" of the nation's capital, creating unprecedented anxiety for parents and children starting the academic year.
National Guard troops began carrying loaded M17 pistols and M4 rifles on DC streets August 24, 2025, for first time since 1992 riots
2,274 armed soldiers now patrol the capital as DC students returned to school under military occupation
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized weapons despite DC violent crime dropping to 30-year lows
Armed military patrols normalize government by force rather than civilian democratic governance
Students walk to class past armed guards, teaching children that democracy requires military enforcement
Military forces can now make arrests and detain civilians under Rules for Use of Force authorization
Trump uses Title 32 legal loophole to bypass Posse Comitatus Act prohibiting domestic military policing
Six Republican governors sent troops while Democratic mayors oppose militarization of civilian law enforcement
🛡️National Security✊Civil Rights🏙️Local Issues🎓Education
People, bills, and sources
What You Can Do
1
Contact House Armed Services Committee at 202-225-4151 demanding hearings on domestic military deployment violations
2
Document military interactions with civilians and students to build legal challenges against unconstitutional occupation
3
Support DC statehood advocates fighting federal control over local governance at dcstatehood.org
4
Call your representative at 202-224-3121 opposing military policing that violates Posse Comitatus Act
5
Join civil liberties organizations monitoring military overreach in American cities at aclu.org
6
Support legal challenges to Title 32 loophole allowing presidents to militarize domestic law enforcement
7
Pressure your governor to refuse future requests for National Guard deployment in other states