Key takeaways:
- President Donald Trump said on social media on Sunday that “the Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital.”
- On Monday, Trump deployed the National Guard despite data showing that crime rates are falling in the District for the past two years.
President Donald Trump on Monday deployed hundreds of National Guard troops to the nation’s capital, vowing to evict homeless people off the city streets and jail criminals.
Trump announced the move on Monday, declaring a public safety emergency in order to put the Washington police department under federal control.
“We’re here for a very serious purpose. Very serious, very,” Trump said. “Something’s out of control. But we’re going to put it in control very quickly, like we did in the southern border. I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse. This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re going to take our capital back.”
Unlike the other states, where the governor has the power to decide when to activate Guard troops, the president directly controls the National Guard in Washington, D.C.
“It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. He added on Monday said he was declaring a public safety emergency in order to put the Washington police department under federal control.
However, preliminary year-to-date crime comparisons from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department show that crime in D.C. has decreased by 7% since last year, with violent crime down 26% and property crime reduced by 5%.
Additionally, violent crime in D.C. is down 26%, murders are down 12%, juvenile arrests are down 20%.
The emergency control is set to expire after a maximum of 30 days, according to the statute. That can be extended, but only if Congress passes a law authorizing it.
