Trump orders National Guard deployment in Washington to combat crime

Donald Trump will deploy the National Guard in Washington and place the city’s local police under his direct command as part of a plan he termed as “liberating” the U.S. capital from homelessness and crime. In addition, agents from the FBI will reinforce nighttime surveillance patrols and help local police fight alleged street crime, which Trump claims — contradicting official data — has turned the capital into a lawless city. He confirmed this Monday at a press conference at the White House, shortly after announcing the measure on social media.

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor,” the president said in his appearance before the media, accompanied by his spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, among others. “I’m going to meet with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin... I don’t like being here talking about how unsafe, dirty, and filthy this once beautiful city is, with graffiti on the walls everywhere.”

The National Guard is under state control but the capital only has district status, and its detachment is under the direct command of the president, not a governor.

“This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said. “We’re also talking about beautification. We’re the most beautiful, potentially, capital in the world,” he added. But people come from Iowa, they come from Indiana, they come and then they get mugged. Not going to happen. Keep coming, because by the time you get your trip set, it’s going to be safe again, and it’s going to be clean."

The president had already anticipated that he would take this measure in a series of messages on his social network, Truth.

“Washington, D.C. will be liberated today! Crime, Savagery, Filth, and Scum will disappear. I will, make our capital great again! The days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people, are over!” the Republican had written earlier.

In his text, Trump, who boasts of having “fixed” the immigration problem on the southern border, had emphasized that the capital “is next.”

The U.S. president has a complicated relationship with Washington, D.C., a city under Democratic control that has voted overwhelmingly against him in every election. During his first term, he bought the Old Post Office Building, which he converted into a luxury hotel, only to sell it after his defeat in the 2020 presidential election at the hands of Joe Biden. Both then and now, he has accused the capital of being a dirty, run-down place dominated by street crime.

The data, however, contradicts him. Violent crime fell by 35% in 2024 compared to the previous year and reached its lowest level in 30 years, according to a Justice Department report published in January.

In an interview on Sunday with MSNBC, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser expressed concern about the possible deployment of National Guard troops. “They are not police officers,” she argued. “I don’t think it would be the most efficient use of our Guard.”

In a message on social media on Sunday, Trump announced that he would expel the homeless from the capital. “The Homeless have to move out, immediately,” he wrote. “We will give you places to stay, but far from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”

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