Gov. Patrick Morrisey indicated members of the West Virginia National Guard will continue to rotate in and out of duty in Washington, D.C.
“I know that some of our kids will be coming home, and I think that’s great, and no timeline about how many will stay into the next quarter,” Morrisey said on MetroNews Talkline.
“But I do think that a lot of the people there, they really love that mission, and they’re appreciative for the opportunity to serve.”
In November, state officials announced that the West Virginia National Guard would continue to participate in the presence in Washington, D.C., through at least Dec. 31.
Morrisey, in that announcement, described a re-evaluation of extending the mission every quarter through the end of fiscal 2026.
On August 11, President Donald Trump declared a “crime emergency” for the District of Columbia, and five days later Governor Morrisey deployed 300 to 400 members of the West Virginia National Guard for support.
The November announcement indicated members of the West Virginia National Guard who continue the work in Washington, D.C., would be volunteers from then on. About 160 West Virginia National Guard volunteers have been approved to remain in D.C.
“I think it’s important to know that all the people that are there now are volunteering for it, and we had actually left it up to their discretion as to whether they wanted to remain on the mission in Washington, D.C., or to come home,” Morrisey said today on Talkline.
“So it’s my understanding, we have about 160, 170 people, and some people will come home between now and Christmas. And I don’t have the exact numbers in front of me, but I can tell you that there are always people looking to rotate back, and there’s a rotation basis that occurs.”
About 2,000 members of the National Guard, overall, have been deployed to Washington, D.C., to patrol on the National Mall, in Metro public transportation stations and across D.C. neighborhoods.
West Virginia National Guard members Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and Andrew Wolfe, 24, were shot Nov. 26 at the corner of 17th and I Streets NW. Beckstrom died on Thanksgiving Day, and Wolfe continues to recover from serious injuries.
A week before the shooting, Nov. 20, a federal judge ruled that deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., has been unlawful.
This week, a panel of U.S. appeals judges entered an order allowing National Guard members from states including West Virginia to remain in Washington, D.C., while the full case is under review.
The order by three judges on the U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia does not represent a final outcome in the case, but it does mean the appeals judges agree the Guard can remain on duty in the nation’s capital for now.
“Absent a stay, the preliminary relief is likely to result in a profound level of disruption to the lives of thousands of service members who have been deployed for four months already, and the President’s order implicates a strong and distinctive interest in the protection of federal governmental functions and property within the Nation’s capital,” the judges wrote.