The protesters jeered Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller as they visited Union Station, blocks from the U.S. Capitol, to thank the troops at a Shake Shack where they bought lunch for the guard members.

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.

The National Guard has been deployed many times historically. Experts say the president's decision to deploy the Guard as a blanket response to crime in D.C. is a departure from its intended mission.

The number of National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., increased again on Tuesday as a sixth Republican-led state sent some of its soldiers to the nation's capital as part of the president's activation to fight what he claims is rising crime in the city.

President Donald Trump has expanded his law-enforcement crackdown in Washington, D.C., with top officials visiting National Guard troops at the city's main railroad station.