BBC News, Washington DC
President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Washington DC and taken control of the city’s police force as he pledges to crack down on crime and homelessness in the nation’s capital.
Trump declared a “public safety emergency” on Monday, deploying 800 National Guard troops who will bolster hundreds of federal law enforcement officers who were deployed over the weekend.
“It’s becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness,” he told reporters at the White House.
The city’s Mayor Muriel Bowser has rejected the president’s claims about crime, and while there was a spike in 2023, statistics show it has fallen since then. Violent crime in the city is also at a 30-year low.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse,” Trump said during a news conference in which he was flanked by US Attorney General Pam Bondi, who will lead the city’s police force while it is under federal control.
“This is liberation day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back,” he said.
Trump said Washington DC had been “taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals” as well as “drugged out maniacs and homeless people”.
According to data from the city’s Metropolitan Police Department, homicides dropped by 32 percent between 2023 and 2024 and reached their lowest level since 2019.
There has been another substantial drop this year of 12 percent, the data shows.
Mayor Bowser, a Democrat, acknowledged there had been a “terrible” spike in crime in 2023, which mirrored a national trend, but she pushed back against any claims of a crimewave in the city.
“We are not experiencing a crime spike,” she told MSNBC on Sunday. “The president is very aware of our efforts.”
When asked about White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s comment that Washington is more violent than Baghdad, Bowser said “any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false”.
Of the 800 National Guard troops who will be activated, between 100-200 will be deployed and supporting law enforcement at any given time, the army said in a statement.
As well as that deployment, Trump said he would place the city’s police department under direct federal control using the District of Columbia Home Rule Act.
That act was instituted by former President Richard Nixon to allow residents of Washington DC – which is the only US city that is not in any of the 50 states – to elect a city council and a mayor.
But it also has a caveat that allows the president to take control of the city’s police force if “special conditions of an emergency nature exist”.
If the president intends to take control for longer than 48 hours, they need to provide a written notice to Congress. And even if that notice is provided, they cannot keep control of the police for longer than 30 days.
On Sunday, when asked about the possibility of the president taking control of the city’s police department, Mayor Bowser said: “There are very specific things in our law that would allow [that]. None of those conditions exist in our city right now.”
She said she was “concerned” about the National Guard enforcing local laws.
Bowser gave a news conference later on Monday in which she said the president’s order was “unsettling and unprecedented”.
She said Trump’s view of the city had been “shaped by his Covid-view experience during his first term”, which she acknowledged was “challenging times” for the district.
“It’s true we experienced a crime spike post-Covid,” she said.
“We worked quickly to put laws in place that got violent offenders off our streets,” she added. “We have seen a huge decrease in crime because of those efforts.”
As well as crime, Trump also spoke at length about homelessness in Washington DC.
“We’re getting rid of the slums,” he said, without giving further details. He said homeless people would be sent elsewhere but did not say where.
Trump added that “everything should be perfect” when dignitaries and foreign leaders visit the city.
“It’s a very strong reflection of our country,” he said. “If our capital is dirty, our whole country is dirty and they don’t respect us.”
Local groups working with homeless people in the capital told the BBC they had actually seen progress in recent years.
Homelessness is down almost 20% for individuals in Washington DC in 2025 compared to five years ago, said Ralph Boyd, the president and chief executive of So Others Might Eat (SOME) – a group that provides people in the city with housing, clothing and other social services.
He also said Trump’s proposal to move people out of the city was not a long-term solution.
“All it will do is transfer the problem somewhere else into communities that are perhaps less equipped to deal with it than we are,” Boyd said.
Meanwhile, outside the White House, protesters concerned about Trump’s actions gathered and chanted “hands off DC” and “protect home rule”.
“Trump does not care about DC’s safety, he cares about control,” a speaker at the event said.
The president’s actions follow a series of social media posts in recent days in which he has criticised the running of Washington DC. Trump has long complained about the city’s Democratic leadership for their handling of crime and homelessness.
He has also responded angrily to a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) who was attacked recently in in the city.
During Monday’s press conference, Trump said the employee was “savagely beaten by a band of roaming thugs” and was “left dripping in blood”.
He also mentioned other federal government employees and elected officials who have been attacked, including a Democratic lawmaker and an intern.
“This is a threat to America,” Trump said.
The first time Trump deployed the National Guard was in June, when he ordered 2,000 National Guardsmen to Los Angeles to deal with unrest over raids on undocumented migrants.
The last time the National Guard was deployed to Washington DC was in response to the Capitol riot in 2021.
With additional reporting from Madeline Halpert