President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he departs the White House in Washington, DC. on August 01, 2025. Credit – Win McNamee—Getty Images
President Donald Trump is expected on Monday to announce plans to use federal resources to crack down on crime in Washington, D.C., and remove homeless people from the city’s public spaces, a move that local leaders are condemning as an overriding of local control of the city based on false pretenses.
Data show that violent crime in the nation’s capital is down significantly from a peak in 2023. But Trump paints a different picture. Trump described Washington as “one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World” in a post on Truth Social Saturday. On Sunday, Trump wrote, “I’m going to make our Capital safer and more beautiful than it ever was before. The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
In recent days, Trump has deployed federal officers from the U.S. Park Police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the U.S. Marshals Service on night patrols in D.C., according to ATF’s X account.
Trump has considered deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C. to address crime. If he follows through, it would be a rare use of military forces on U.S. soil and a potential violation of the Posse Comitatus Act that restricts the military from being used as a police force for domestic law enforcement. During racial justice protests in June 2020, Trump sent uniformed National Guard troops to Lafayette Park in front of the White House to help clear the park of protestors.
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, said on MSNBC on Sunday that Trump’s statements comparing the capital to a “war-torn country” are “hyperbolic and false.” According to city police data, violent crime in D.C. is down by 26% so far in 2025 compared to the year before.
Trump’s focus on public safety in the capital comes after former U.S. DOGE Service software engineer Edward Coristine, who is known by the nickname “Big Balls,” was injured during an alleged carjacking in DC early in the morning on Aug. 3.
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