The president announced the actions ’to rescue [the] nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.’
WASHINGTON—On Aug. 11, President Donald Trump federalized control over the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and ordered 800 National Guard troops to be activated in the nation’s capital.
“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” Trump said at a White House press briefing. “This is Liberation Day in DC, and we’re going to take our capital back.”
As the president spoke, he compared the crime rate in the nation’s capital to those of some of the most crime-ridden cities around the world, including Baghdad, Mexico City, and Bogotá, Colombia.
In addition to federalizing local police and calling up National Guard troops, the Trump administration has surged about 500 federal law enforcement personnel to assist with the efforts in Washington.
During his press conference, Trump compared this new law enforcement crackdown in the District of Columbia to his administration’s existing efforts to secure the United States’ southern border.
According to a report recently published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, June had the lowest number of border enforcement encounters in recorded history, “just a fraction of what they were under the previous administration.”
Previewing his actions in an Aug. 10 post on Truth Social, Trump vowed that criminals would be jailed and homeless encampments cleared. He said the homeless would be given places to stay “far from the capital.”
DC Crime Rates
During his press conference announcing the law enforcement crackdown in Washington, Trump said the number of carjackings there is triple what it was five years ago and that the number of car thefts is double what it was five years ago. He also said that the annual number of homicides reached a record high in 2023.
“Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs, and homeless people,” Trump said. “And we’re not going to let it happen anymore.”
Reinforcing the president’s message of a city awash in crime, the White House’s rapid response X account published graphics showing the city’s homicide rate at 27.54 per 100,000 in 2024. Bogotá had a homicide rate of 15.1 per 100,000 during that same period, and Mexico City had a homicide rate of 10.6 per 100,000.
MAKE D.C. SAFE AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/q45fgZR36E
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 11, 2025
By Ryan Morgan
