Overview

• On August 11 President Trump invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to declare a public safety emergency, placing the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and mobilizing about 800 National Guard soldiers alongside hundreds of federal agents.
• National Guard troops and agents from the FBI, ATF, DEA, ICE and U.S. Marshals began patrolling streets and monuments on August 12, and the White House reported initial arrests for homicide, DUI and drug and weapons offenses.
• Mayor Muriel Bowser branded the action “an abuse of power” and pointed to a 26% drop in violent crime and a 7% decline in overall offenses in 2025 to dispute claims of a crime surge.
• Activists and civil-liberties groups organized protests to denounce the deployment as federal overreach, and experts note that similar actions in other cities would require gubernatorial consent or face legal challenges.
• The White House has hinted at potential federal interventions in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Oakland, but governors and statutory limits are expected to constrain unilateral deployments.