President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he is placing Washington, DC's police force under federal control and deploying the National Guard to combat what he described as a surge in lawlessness. This move comes despite local data indicating that violent crime in the city had reached a 30-year low in 2024 and continued to decline in 2025.
With Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi at his sides, Trump said the National Guard would be sent in to "re-establish law, order, and public safety" while speaking from the White House. "Violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals have taken over our capital city," he told reporters.
The president specified that 800 National Guard troops would be deployed to support local and federal law enforcement. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added that these units are expected to arrive in the capital within the coming week. "The Metropolitan Police Department and the federal authorities will be supported in the effort, a really big effort, the 800 D.C. National Guardsmen that we'll put on. And much more, if necessary," Trump said.
This is the most recent in a string of actions taken by Trump to increase federal control over local law enforcement in cities with Democratic mayors, a tactic that detractors have characterised as politically driven. The FBI, ICE, DEA, and ATF are among the federal agencies that have already sent agents to Washington.
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However, Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has pushed back against the president's claims. She noted that violent crime in the city had actually hit a 30-year low in 2024 and continued to fall in 2025. After declining by 35 pc in 2024, violent crime fell by 26 pc in the first seven months of 2025, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department. There was also a 7 pc drop in overall crime. Despite these encouraging developments, gun violence is still a problem because, in 2023, Washington, DC, had the third-highest rate of gun homicides among major US cities.
Trump has previously employed the use of the National Guard. In response to demonstrations against his administration's immigration raids, he sent 5,000 troops to Los Angeles in June. That decision was met with objections from state and local officials who deemed it unnecessary and inflammatory.
On Monday, a federal trial was scheduled to begin in San Francisco to determine whether the Trump administration violated U.S. law by deploying the National Guard and US Marines without the approval of California's Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom.
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Unlike state governors, who typically control their National Guard forces, the president has broad authority over the 2,700 members of the DC National Guard. Guard troops have been deployed to Washington numerous times throughout history, including in response to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
During his first term, Trump also sent the National Guard to Washington in 2020 to help quell protests over police brutality following the murder of George Floyd, a deployment that was opposed by Mayor Bowser and denounced by civil rights leaders. The Posse Comitatus Act generally prohibits the U.S. military from directly engaging in domestic law enforcement activities.
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