More than 160 members of the Oklahoma National Guard deployed to Washington, D.C., last week, just months after Gov. Kevin Stitt indicated his reluctance to send guardsmen out of state.
The voluntary, 90-day mission is part of President Donald Trump’s Safe and Beautiful initiative to increase law enforcement presence in the nation’s capital. Critics have argued the executive order amounts to federal overreach and that an increased military presence in the city is unnecessary.
The federal government will pay for the deployment, according to Stitt’s office. That differs from 2023, when Oklahoma used $544,000 in funds typically reserved for National Guard response to natural disasters to send troops to the border in Texas.
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