Overview

• On August 11, President Trump issued an emergency declaration placing Washington, D.C., policing under federal control and ordered an initial deployment of about 800 National Guard troops alongside hundreds of federal agents already in the city.
• Trump directed homeless encampments to be dismantled immediately and promised relocation “far from the capital,” while stating that criminals would instead face imprisonment.
• Data from the Justice Department and the Metropolitan Police Department show violent crime in Washington reached its lowest level in decades in 2024 and continued to decline in early 2025, contradicting the administration’s claims of a surge.
• Mayor Muriel Bowser, House Democratic leaders and legal experts have labeled the measures an overreach under the Home Rule Act and signaled forthcoming court challenges.
• The White House has indicated plans to extend similar federal policing and troop deployments to other Democratic-led cities, raising questions about federal authority and civil liberties.