US National Guard members deployed to Washington, DC, started carrying their sidearms on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force carrying out the mission told CNN.

U.S. National Guard troops patrolling the streets of Washington D.C. as part of what President Donald Trump said was his crackdown on crime will begin carrying weapons on Sunday night, two officials said.

National Guard troops on duty in President Trump’s crackdown in Washington, D.C., began carrying weapons in the capital Sunday evening, according to a spokesman for the National Guard task force. Several members of the Guard from South Carolina were seen late Sunday outside Washington’s Union Station with firearms holstered to their hips.