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.

In New Mexico’s most populous city, National Guard troops are listening to the police dispatch calls, monitoring traffic cameras and helping to secure crime scene perimeters, tasks not usually part of the job.

It was the first such action by the Guard since its deployment in Washington.