West Virginia National Guard troops have begun to arrive in Washington, DC, to assist with President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown in the nation’s capital, a defense official told CNN on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON >> Hundreds of National Guard soldiers in military fatigues and combat boots mingled with tourists, posed for selfies, and treated themselves to ice cream from food trucks on Thursday along Washington’s National Mall,

The Republican governors of West Virginia and South Carolina are deploying hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., at the request of the administration of President Donald Trump, who has portrayed the nation's capital as awash in crime.

The moves come as federal agents and National Guard troops have begun to appear across the heavily Democratic city after President Trump's executive order earlier this week.

Even as soldiers with the West Virginia National Guard begin arriving in Washington, D.C., to meet President Donald Trump’s call to help quell crime in the nation’s capital, a lawsuit could undo that deployment.