The Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio announced Saturday they will send National Guard troops to Washington, DC, in an escalation of President Donald Trump’s efforts to federally take over law enforcement in the city.

The city’s Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit calling for an emergency restraining order to block the move, accusing the Trump Administration of implementing a “hostile takeover” of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) that would lead to “imminent, irreparable harm”.

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.

South Carolina and Ohio say they will send a combined 350 National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., supplementing a surge of troops from Republican-led states.

The National Guard presence in D.C. is set to increase in the coming days after the governors of some Republican states deployed troops to the capital.