‘Going to Take Capital Back’: Trump Seizes Control of DC Police, Deploys National Guard Amid ‘Lawlessness’ Claims

US President Donald Trump on Monday announced he is placing the Washington, D.C. police force under federal control and deploying the National Guard to combat what he termed a surge in “lawlessness,” a move that immediately drew sharp criticism as it contradicts official data showing a 30-year low in violent crime. Standing alongside top officials at the White House, Trump declared his intent to restore “law, order, and public safety” in a city he claims has been “overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals”.

“I’m deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC,” Trump told reporters, invoking the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to federalize the city’s police department.

This aggressive expansion of federal authority over a local, Democratic-led city was immediately challenged by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, who pointed out that official police data shows violent crime fell 35% in 2024 and has continued to decline by another 26% in the first seven months of 2025. Overall crime in the city has also decreased by 7%.

The move is seen by critics as a politically motivated strategy, following a pattern of Trump targeting cities run by his political opponents. The deployment of the National Guard comes after hundreds of federal agents from the FBI, ICE, and other agencies have already been assigned to patrols in Washington.

The president has broad authority over the D.C. National Guard, unlike in states where governors typically command the troops, a power he previously used to quell protests in the capital in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd.

This action is not without legal precedent or controversy. Trump recently dispatched 5,000 troops to Los Angeles to counter protests against his administration’s immigration policies, a decision local officials decried as inflammatory. A federal trial is also set to begin in San Francisco challenging the legality of deploying National Guard troops without the governor’s approval.

While gun violence remains a concern in Washington, the president’s dramatic intervention based on claims of rampant crime, in defiance of statistical evidence, sets the stage for a major new conflict between the White House and the capital city’s government.