Updated August 11, 2025 at 12:29 PM PDT
WASHINGTON — President Trump says National Guard soldiers will be deployed on the streets of Washington, D.C., and he asserted federal control over the city's Metropolitan Police Department. He said the moves were necessary to quell what he has described repeatedly as an epidemic of crime and homelessness in the nation's capital.
"This is liberation day in D.C., and we're going to take our capital back — we're taking it back," Trump said during a news conference at the White House. He said the Metropolitan Police Department would now be led by a federal team, which he described as "very good people, but they're tough."
The move comes over the objections of local leaders and despite the fact that violent crime plunged to a 30-year low last year, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Justice. A DOJ announcement posted this year boasted that crime in Washington had plunged across a wide range of indicators.
"In addition to the overall violent crime reduction, homicides are down 32%; robberies are down 39%; armed carjackings are down 53%; assaults with a dangerous weapon are down 27% when compared with 2023 levels, with the District reporting the fewest assaults with dangerous weapons and burglaries in over 30 years," the Justice Department statement said.
Speaking on Sunday on MSNBC, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned Trump's motives for stepping up federal law enforcement in the city: "Now, if the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here, but it won't be because there's a spike in crime," Bowser said.
But during his first half-year in office in his second term, Trump has often based sweeping policy moves on false claims, which at times contradict facts and data provided by the U.S. government and other experts.
"Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people. And we're not going to let it happen anymore — we're not going to take it," Trump told reporters at a news conference, flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other officials.
This move follows Trump's action in June when he deployed National Guard soldiers on the streets of Los Angeles, a controversial action lasting until mid-July that some local authorities said was meant to sow fear. Already over the weekend, scores of federal agents — including more than 120 FBI agents — were reassigned from their normal duties to patrol the streets of Washington.
The immediate impact of Trump's action on Sunday appeared less sweeping and dramatic than his social media posts suggested.
Groups of uniformed agents from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies could be seen strolling streets in small groups.
At one intersection, a minor traffic accident between a car and a moped brought at least two dozen agents running, some wearing masks and one carrying a rifle. Local D.C. Metropolitan police were also on scene.
Locals and tourists enjoying summer ice cream and other street food looked on as agents gathered, with some residents voicing confusion about the presence of uniformed federal officers.
But some homeless residents in a camp nearby said they are worried by what they described as Trump's threat to displace them.
"I'm definitely afraid that he could do whatever he wants to do, but I can't live my life in fear," said Greg Evans, age 38, who has lived in a small homeless encampment near the Lincoln Memorial for several months.
Evans said he has struggled for years with addiction and other health problems. He told NPR he thinks most Americans want the federal government to help poor people and others who are struggling.
"I see plenty of compassion," he said. "There's plenty of compassionate people out there."
Writing on social media, meanwhile, Trump said purging homeless people from Washington, D.C., would be part of a wider effort to beautify the capital.
"Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again," Trump wrote.
He offered no explanation for where homeless people would be sent, but in a social media post he suggested they would be banished "FAR from the Capital," where many are long-term residents with family and community ties.
George Morgan, 65, who lives in the tent camp near the Lincoln Memorial, said he is disappointed by Trump's rhetoric and believes the U.S. should use more of its wealth to help people who need housing and health care.
"As much as God has blessed America, and we're constantly begging God to bless America, truth be told we're in a shamble and in hot water in terms of taking care of our own," Morgan said.
"If D.C. doesn't get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they're not going to get away with it anymore," Trump stated on social media.
Speaking on MSNBC, Mayor Bowser said she is aware that Trump has "a lot of concerns about homelessness," but she argued that the situation has improved.
"So we are going to keep talking to the president, working with his people on the issues that are a high priority for him," Bowser said.
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