WASHINGTON (7News) — The District is reacting to the Pentagon’s alleged plan to keep National Guard members deployed in Washington, D.C. until 2029, the end of President Trump’s term, and his mission to make D.C. safe and beautiful.

At least 2,500 National Guard members have patrolled D.C. streets since last August.

ALSO READ | Judge rules National Guard deployment into DC was illegal; ruling faces appeal

Their deployment was initially scheduled to end in 2025. Then it was extended until the end of 2026. But now this could be home base for another three years.

Two U.S. officials told ABC News that the agency is planning to maintain a presence in the city through early 2029.

“We don’t need to have theater on our streets,” said Tropper Sanders, who has lived in the District for nearly 30 years.

The president first deployed the National Guard last summer, even as the District was already seeing historically low crime rates.

“There are crime and safety issues, but that should be handled with law enforcement and government,” said Sanders. “I think at a time when we are at war, we are expecting so much of our service members. We should not use their time in ways that are not essential.”

Some residents and city leaders said the military has helped clean up the city, but not with crime. D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said he does not see the point of keeping the National Guard in D.C.

“I know that the President said it was all about law and order,” he said. “The National Guard does not do law enforcement. What I see is them walking around, during the snow, creating a path they were very good at, shoveling snow.”

Residents like Shanti Israni told 7News their presence is noticeable.

“They open people’s doors,” said Israni. “If there are people who need help with groceries, they’ve helped the people with groceries. They’re helping. But also, my hope is that people in the community can also fill that role.”

Mendelson said the deployment is costing taxpayers significantly.

“It could be $1.6 million a day,” said Mendelson. “That’s like between almost $400 million and $600 million a year. I don’t get the point.”

If they are ordered to stay, community members told 7News they want the city to put the services to good use.

“The mayor or the next mayor should really look at where the true hotspots or issues are where we can make the most of these servicemembers’ time,” said Tropper. “That does not necessarily have to be about crime. There are a lot of things that we can deploy these talented people to deal with. If we have to do this, then let’s at least figure out how the District can be so much better in 2029.”

“I also realize that the people making these decisions probably know a lot that we don’t,” said Israni. “If our country’s at war, I wonder if risks in D.C. will increase. If D.C. will become more of a target, maybe in that way it might be helpful to have people, but, if again, if the mission is keeping D.C. safe and beautiful, D.C.’s saving people already.”

A Pentagon spokesperson told ABC News, “The Department of War is committed to supporting the president’s mission to address the epidemic of crime in the nation’s capital. There are no announcements to make at this time.”

The District has been pushing back on the president’s deployment, with expectations of continuing to do so.

SEE ALSO | Legal questions grow over National Guard’s long-term presence in DC

“There’s pending litigation now,” said Mendelson. “The attorney general won preliminarily, and then it went up to the court of appeals, where there was a stay. It’s all pending. There’s further legal argument.”

Officials told ABC News the deployment plan was finalized last year and is awaiting Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s signature.

Heads up for road closures and parking restrictions in Washington, D.C. on Saturday.

Road closures are underway for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and 5K. Closures began Friday, and some will continue until 6 p.m. Saturday.

“All Road closures are in effect until further notice,” D.C. police said Saturday. “Use caution and follow Police directions.”

Here’s the full list of closures from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon and 5K road closures

The following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic from 6:00 p.m. on Friday, March 20, 2026, to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2026:

• Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street, NW
• Constitution Avenue from 3rd Street to 7th Street, NW
• 4th Street from Madison Drive to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• 6th Street from Indiana Avenue to Constitution Avenue, NW

The following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic from 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2026, to 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, 2026:

• Constitution Avenue from 9th Street to 15th Street, NW

The following streets will be closed to vehicle traffic on Saturday, March 21, 2026, from 06:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.:

• Constitution Avenue from 15th Street 23rd Street, NW
• 10th Street from Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• 12th Street from Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• 14th Street from Constitution Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• Virginia Avenue from 18th Street to 19th Street, NW
• 18th Street from Constitution Avenue to E Street, NW
• 1800 block of C Street, NW
• E Street from 18th Street to 19th Street, NW
• 19th Street from E Street to Constitution Avenue, NW
• 27th Street from Virginia Avenue to Whitehurst Freeway, NW
• I Street from 27th Street to Virginia Avenue, NW
• Calvert Street from 24th Street to Columbia Road, NW
• Adams Mill Road from 18th Street to Calvert Street, NW
• Columbia Road from 18th Street to 16th Street, NW
• Harvard Street from 16th Street to 5th Street, NW
• 5th Street from Harvard Street to Bryant Street, NW
• Bryant Street from 4th Street to North Capitol Street, NW
• North Capitol Street from Bryant Street to K Street, NW
• K Street from North Capitol Street to 5th Street, NW
• 4th Street from K Street to E Street, NW
• E Street from 4th Street to 6th Street, NW
• 6th Street from E Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

After weeks of stalemate — and mounting airport delays nationwide — leaders in both parties are scrambling to work out a deal to reopen the Department of Homeland Security, though it remains unclear if a compromise is in reach.

A Friday night meeting on Capitol Hill — which marks the second straight day of talks — is the latest sign that Republicans and the White House are seeking a swift way out of the growing political crisis. Democrats remained tight lipped as they emerged from the talks, though a key GOP leader said she expected the group to meet again in the coming days.

Multiple Republicans said leaving the meeting that the GOP had bolstered its latest offer to Democrats, though they declined to specify how the White House was proposing to address the Democrats’ demands on new limits for immigration enforcement.

Frustrations have been steadily growing on both sides of the aisle over how to defuse a weeks-long standoff over the shutdown as Democrats have so far dismissed GOP efforts to negotiate over ICE tactics as inadequate.

But lawmakers are eager to reach a deal in the next week before Congress leaves town for a lengthy spring recess, faced with hourly reports of long lines at airports and a shrinking pot of FEMA money.

A meeting with White House border czar Tom Homan and bipartisan Senate appropriators Friday evening was brief, with Democrats leaving without speaking to reporters less than an hour after it began.

Republicans at the meeting said that Democrats were not upset when they left, and Homan said, “Discussions are continuing, we need to get the government back open.”

A Democratic source familiar with the talks said, “It was a productive meeting, but there’s a ways to go to secure the significant reforms that Democrats have laid out for weeks and that are necessary to earn the support of the Democratic caucus.”

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins told reporters, “The White House has added to its offer,” describing the latest version as a “very fair, reasonable offer,” without outlining specifics. Collins added, “yes,” they are now waiting for Democrats to counter.

Asked if the group would meet again Saturday, Collins replied, “I certainly hope so,” but noted that depends on Democrats. She added, “I thought the meeting could have gone longer.”

GOP Sen. Katie Britt called the conversation, “productive,” adding “we built off of the conversations yesterday, which is positive.”

“I think we need to work through the weekend to achieve a result or figure out a pathway forward,” she said.

So far Democrats have remained defiant in their position that they will not fund DHS without concrete changes to federal law preventing the kind of violence seen in Minneapolis earlier this year. They argue the White House is refusing to make any real concessions.

Sen. Jacky Rosen, a centrist Democrat, was adamant earlier on Friday that she will not alter her position until the White House gets serious in its proposals – a sign that the Democratic party is not shrinking from its demands.

“You’ve seen the offers they sent back. ‘We’ll be glad to uphold the current law.’ Well, that’s great. That’s no negotiation. ‘We’ll be glad to follow the Fourth Amendment where we think we should.’ Oh, you suddenly realize we have a bill of rights? Thank you for saying that you’ll enforce it through the executive branch. That’s not a negotiation,” she told CNN ahead of the Friday night meeting.

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock — who represents the massive Atlanta airport that’s experienced some of the worst delays in the shutdown – also made clear he was not backing down from Democratic demands over ICE.

“I don’t know why the Republicans insist on holding federal workers hostage, holding TSA workers hostage so they can have an unaccountable paramilitary force on our streets. It’s unconscionable,” Warnock said.

Asked if he would support a short-term funding bill amid ongoing ICE negotiations, Warnock said he would not vote to “continue the status quo.”

Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN ahead of Friday’s meeting that the major sticking point is that the GOP is still unwilling to budge.

“The Republicans aren’t producing any real, meaningful offers. We’ve given them reasonable priorities, and we have not seen anything meaningful from them yet,” Murphy said.

Murphy and other Democrats have pushed an alternate funding proposal that would restore federal dollars for TSA, FEMA and other agencies – but not immigration enforcement.

Republicans, however, have rejected the idea. Multiple GOP senators told CNN they would only support a bill that fully funds DHS – not simply funding agencies in a piecemeal fashion.

“No, no, I’m not defunding the police. I’m not defunding ICE,” Sen. Rick Scott of Florida told CNN when asked if he’d support a bill to fund TSA but not the full department. “I’m not going to do that.”

Democrats argue that immigration agencies – specifically ICE and Customs and Border Protection – don’t need the cash right now. Republicans have already given them enough money to last years through their massive domestic policy bill last year, they say.

“ICE got $75 billion in the one big ugly bill. They’re not suffering from any lack of funding,” Warnock said. “We ought to fund TSA now.”

GOP Sen. John Kennedy said he would only support that Democratic proposal if the very next day, Republicans all agreed to use their special budgetary powers, known as reconciliation, to override the Democrats and muscle through their own ICE funding bill.

“I think we ought to do it and then the very next day after we do it, we ought to do a reconciliation bill that does everything we want to do with respect to ICE,” Kennedy said.