The shift comes after defense officials said the soldiers deployed to the capital wouldn’t be armed.

The influx came the morning after the Republican president announced he would be activating the guard members and taking over the District’s police department, something the law allows him to do temporarily.

Law enforcement expert, former sheriff's detective and investigator Jamie Copenhaver joins FOX 35's Garrett Wymer via Zoom from Washington, D.C. to talk about his time in security meetings and to give an update on the continued law enforcement response in Washington,

The 800 soldiers, in round-the-clock shifts of 100 to 200, will support Washington police and federal law enforcement officers.

The move by West Virginia comes as hundreds of District of Columbia National Guard were activated this week to back up local law enforcement.

Dressed in camouflage fatigues, National Guard troops patrolled areas of Washington Thursday, dispatched by President Donald Trump to police what he has called "out of control crime" in the city.

A National Guard deployment reacheed 400 members in Washington as a federal operation began targeting crime and homelessness around the clock Wednesday.