BBC Information, Washington DC
President Donald Trump has deployed the Nationwide Guard to Washington DC and brought management of the town’s police power as he pledges to crack down on crime and homelessness within the nation’s capital.
Trump declared a “public security emergency” on Monday, deploying 800 Nationwide Guard troops who will bolster a whole bunch of federal regulation enforcement officers who had been deployed over the weekend.
“It is turning into a scenario of full and complete lawlessness,” he instructed reporters on the White Home.
Town’s Mayor Muriel Bowser has rejected the president’s claims about crime, and whereas there was a spike in 2023, statistics present it has fallen since then. Violent crime within the metropolis can be at a 30-year low.
“I am asserting a historic motion to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump mentioned throughout a information convention during which he was flanked by US Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi, who will lead the town’s police power whereas it’s below federal management.
“That is liberation day in DC, and we will take our capital again,” he mentioned.
Trump mentioned Washington DC had been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals” in addition to “drugged out maniacs and homeless folks”.
In keeping with information from the town’s Metropolitan Police Division, homicides dropped by 32 % between 2023 and 2024 and reached their lowest stage since 2019.
There was one other substantial drop this yr of 12 %, the info reveals.
Mayor Bowser, a Democrat, acknowledged there had been a “horrible” spike in crime in 2023, which mirrored a nationwide pattern, however she pushed again towards any claims of a crimewave within the metropolis.
“We aren’t experiencing against the law spike,” she instructed MSNBC on Sunday. “The president could be very conscious of our efforts.”
When requested about White Home Deputy Chief of Workers Stephen Miller’s remark that Washington is extra violent than Baghdad, Bowser mentioned “any comparability to a war-torn nation is hyperbolic and false”.
Of the 800 Nationwide Guard troops who shall be activated, between 100-200 shall be deployed and supporting regulation enforcement at any given time, the military mentioned in a press release.
In addition to that deployment, Trump mentioned he would place the town’s police division below direct federal management utilizing the District of Columbia Residence Rule Act.
That act was instituted by former President Richard Nixon to permit residents of Washington DC – which is the one US metropolis that isn’t in any of the 50 states – to elect a metropolis council and a mayor.
But it surely additionally has a caveat that enables the president to take management of the town’s police power if “particular situations of an emergency nature exist”.
If the president intends to take management for longer than 48 hours, they should present a written discover to Congress. And even when that discover is supplied, they can’t maintain management of the police for longer than 30 days.
On Sunday, when requested about the opportunity of the president taking management of the town’s police division, Mayor Bowser mentioned: “There are very particular issues in our regulation that will enable [that]. None of these situations exist in our metropolis proper now.”
She mentioned she was “involved” concerning the Nationwide Guard implementing native legal guidelines.
Bowser gave a information convention afterward Monday during which she mentioned the president’s order was “unsettling and unprecedented”.
She mentioned Trump’s view of the town had been “formed by his Covid-view expertise throughout his first time period”, which she acknowledged was “difficult instances” for the district.
“It is true we skilled against the law spike post-Covid,” she mentioned.
“We labored shortly to place legal guidelines in place that obtained violent offenders off our streets,” she added. “We now have seen an enormous lower in crime due to these efforts.”
In addition to crime, Trump additionally spoke at size about homelessness in Washington DC.
“We’re eliminating the slums,” he mentioned, with out giving additional particulars. He mentioned homeless folks could be despatched elsewhere however didn’t say the place.
Trump added that “the whole lot must be good” when dignitaries and overseas leaders go to the town.
“It is a very robust reflection of our nation,” he mentioned. “If our capital is soiled, our entire nation is soiled they usually do not respect us.”
Native teams working with homeless folks within the capital instructed the BBC they’d really seen progress lately.
Homelessness is down nearly 20% for people in Washington DC in 2025 in comparison with 5 years in the past, mentioned Ralph Boyd, the president and chief govt of So Others Would possibly Eat (SOME) – a bunch that gives folks within the metropolis with housing, clothes and different social companies.
He additionally mentioned Trump’s proposal to maneuver folks out of the town was not a long-term answer.
“All it would do is switch the issue some other place into communities which are maybe much less outfitted to take care of it than we’re,” Boyd mentioned.
In the meantime, exterior the White Home, protesters involved about Trump’s actions gathered and chanted “palms off DC” and “shield dwelling rule”.
“Trump doesn’t care about DC’s security, he cares about management,” a speaker on the occasion mentioned.
The president’s actions comply with a collection of social media posts in current days during which he has criticised the working of Washington DC. Trump has lengthy complained concerning the metropolis’s Democratic management for his or her dealing with of crime and homelessness.
He has additionally responded angrily to a former worker of the Division of Authorities Effectivity (Doge) who was attacked lately in within the metropolis.
Throughout Monday’s press convention, Trump mentioned the worker was “savagely overwhelmed by a band of roaming thugs” and was “left dripping in blood”.
He additionally talked about different federal authorities workers and elected officers who’ve been attacked, together with a Democratic lawmaker and an intern.
“It is a risk to America,” Trump mentioned.
The primary time Trump deployed the Nationwide Guard was in June, when he ordered 2,000 Nationwide Guardsmen to Los Angeles to take care of unrest over raids on undocumented migrants.
The final time the Nationwide Guard was deployed to Washington DC was in response to the Capitol riot in 2021.
With further reporting from Madeline Halpert
