WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to federalize the Washington, D.C., police again if the department does not cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
In August, Trump federalized D.C. police and deployed National Guard troops into the district in an emergency 30-day takeover, which expired last week. Trump said in a Truth Social post early Monday that the move led to the city being “one of the safest” in the world. Trump said that D.C. is now “booming” with restaurants, stores and other businesses and there’s “virtually NO CRIME.”
“It has been a beautiful thing to watch but, now, under pressure from the Radical Left Democrats, Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has presided over this violent criminal takeover of our Capital for years, has informed the Federal Government that the Metropolitan Police Department will no longer cooperate with ICE in removing and relocating dangerous illegal aliens,” he wrote.
Trump warned: “If I allowed this to happen, CRIME would come roaring back. To the people and businesses of Washington, D.C., DON’T WORRY, I AM WITH YOU, AND WON’T ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN. I’ll call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary!!!”
Bowser, a Democrat, voiced concern during the initial emergency about the administration’s immigration-enforcement operations and how residents were “living in fear.” As the emergency ended last week, Bowser told reporters that the presidential declaration compelled the mayor to provide police department services for federal purposes, including immigration enforcement.
But, she said, “Immigration enforcement is not what MPD does, and with the end of the emergency, it won’t be what MPD does.”
At the same time, Bowser said that federal police officers would remain in the district to “enhance the public safety mission of MPD.”
Bowser’s office and MPD didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Several weeks into the federal takeover in August, Bowser credited the surge with lowering crime in the city, though she said that the presence of immigration agents and National Guard troops was “not working.”
Crime data collected by MPD showed that crime had decreased during the period of the federal takeover when compared to the same period last year. From Aug. 11, 2024, to Sept. 10, 2024, there was a total of 2,425 reported crimes, and there were 1,979 during the same time frame this year.
It’s not clear if Trump can unilaterally declare another emergency takeover of D.C. He would have needed congressional approval to extend the first one and Congress did not act.
The GOP-led House Oversight Committee recently advanced a series of crime bills that seek to codify a March Trump executive order to “restore safety and beauty” to D.C. The panel will hear testimony on Thursday from Bowser, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who has sued the Trump administration over its deployment of the National Guard.
Meanwhile, Trump announced last week that he was planning to send the National Guard into Memphis, Tennessee, as part of a similar crime-fighting effort. He had also been threatening to deploy troops to Chicago, New Orleans and Baltimore.
Democrats have questioned the president’s authority to expand his crime crackdown to other cities, including in Los Angeles, where he deployed 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines in June. A federal judge ruled this month that the move broke a 19th-century law that bans the use of soldiers for civilian law enforcement.
Gary Grumbach contributed.