Trump Acts to Tackle D.C. Crime Emergency

FURTHER ADVANCING LAW AND ORDER: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order directing additional specific actions to further crack down on crime in Washington, D.C.

• The Order instructs the National Park Service to hire additional United States Park Police officers to support public safety in Washington, D.C.
• It directs the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia to hire additional prosecutors to focus on violent and property crimes.
• It establishes an online portal for Americans with law enforcement experience or other relevant backgrounds to join Federal law enforcement branches to support law enforcement operations in Washington, D.C.
• It instructs law enforcement agencies that are members of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force to create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping specialized units that are dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation's capital that can be deployed whenever the circumstances necessitate.
• The Order directs the Secretary of Defense to create a specialized D.C. National Guard unit trained to ensure public safety and order in the Nation's capital, when its activation becomes necessary, and ensure state National Guards are similarly trained and ready to assist in quelling civil disturbances nationwide. Further, the Secretary of Defense will ensure the availability of a National Guard quick reaction force for rapid nationwide deployment when circumstances warrant.
• The Order directs the Department of Housing and Urban Development to investigate any non-compliance with crime prevention and safety requirements in HUD's agreements with the DC Housing Authority or landlords in vouchers to ensure that housing providers are ensuring safe, decent, and sanitary conditions in housing and restricting tenants who engage in criminal activity like drug distribution, violent criminal activity, and domestic violence.
• It tasks the Secretary of Transportation with conducting inspections to address unsafe conditions in D.C.'s federally funded transit services and take remedial action as needed.
• Finally, the Order directs the Attorney General to request additional updates and modifications to the Metropolitan Police Department General Orders from the Mayor as necessary to address the crime emergency and ensure public safety.

RESTORING SAFETY IN OUR NATION'S CAPITAL: Washington, D.C. is under siege from out-of-control violent crime, and additional Federal intervention is necessary to secure the safety and peaceful functioning of the Federal government, and therefore, our Nation.

• Violent crime that prevents Federal workers from safely performing their duties and prevents Americans from safely accessing their elected officials is a threat not just to Washington, D.C., but to the Nation.
• The local D.C. government has lost control of public safety in the city.
  • In May, two embassy staffers were murdered.
  • In June, a Congressional intern was fatally shot just a short distance from the White House.
  • Just weeks ago, a Trump Administration staffer was mercilessly beaten by a violent mob.
• Washington, D.C. has a violent crime rate that is higher than some of the most dangerous places in the world.
  • Washington, DC's 2024 murder rate (27.54 per 100K) is higher than Bogota (15.1), Mexico City (10.6), Islamabad (9.2), Lima (7.6), and major capitals like Paris (1.64), London (1.1), and Madrid (0.96).
• President Trump has a constitutional obligation to restore order so that citizens, tourists, and federal workers can live and work peacefully in the Nation's capital. Our Nation's capital should be the envy of the world, not a disgrace.

MAKING AMERICA SAFE AGAIN: President Trump campaigned on the promise to make America safe again and restore Washington, D.C. to glory.

• On President Trump's first return to Washington since leaving office in 2021, he lamented "the filth and the decay" that marred the Nation's capital in his absence.
• President Trump later promised that his Administration would "take over the horribly run capital of our nation, Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, but rather it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world."
• In March, President Trump created a task force to make D.C. safe and beautiful, surging law enforcement to restore order and enhance the city's infrastructure.
• President Trump: "Just like I took care of the Border, where you had ZERO Illegals coming across last month, from millions the year before, I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN! Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again."
• Earlier this month, President Trump mobilized the national guard and took over the D.C. Metro Police Department to restore law and order in the District of Columbia.
  • As a result of President Trump's decisive actions, crime in D.C. has already started to fall, with robbery down 46% carjacking down 83%, and violent crime down 22%.