Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser's latest request that the D.C. National Guard help with migrants being bused into the city from Texas and Arizona was denied, The Hill reported.
The Department of Defense on Monday refused Bowser's second request to deploy the National Guard troops and use the D.C. Armory to help with the migrants, The Hill said.
Pentagon Executive Secretary Kelly Bulliner Holly, in a letter reviewed by The Hill, said deploying the Guard would be "inappropriate to the task, regardless of the duration or number of personnel involved."
"[The D.C. Guard] has no specific experience in or training for this kind of mission or unique skills for providing facility management, feeding, sanitation, or ground support," Holly wrote, The Hill said.
As she did in turning down Bowser's initial request in July, Holly cited the department's concerns about how deploying National Guard troops would impact its readiness and reiterated that nongovernmental organizations were assisting with migrants.
Holly also said the D.C. Armory's design and suitability "rules it out as an option," as it is not air conditioned and has to undergo “substantial remediation” for several issues.
Bowser responded to the news via Twitter.
"We are going to move forward with our planning to ensure that when people are coming through DC on their way to their final destination that we have a humane setting for them," Bowser tweeted.
"We know that these unannounced buses are a politically motivated stunt, one that could very quickly lead to a crisis within our own systems. We struggle with a broken immigration system in our country, and we know that cities alone cannot fix it," she tweeted.
"We will continue working with federal partners and local NGOs on the best way to set up systems that allow us to manage an ongoing humanitarian crisis."
Bowser ended her Twitter thread by saying she will "continue fighting for DC statehood so that, in the future, when the Mayor of DC says that we need the support of the DC National Guard, she has the ability to deploy the Guard."
The Defense Department earlier this month rejected Bowser's request for the National Guard to help deal with the influx caused by Texas and Arizona busing migrants to the nation's capital.
Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in April began busing migrants from the southern border to Washington, D.C., after saying the federal government had failed to adequately police the migrant surge.
Arizona Republican Gov. Doug Ducey then followed suit in May.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.