U.S. President Donald Trump has declared a public safety emergency in Washington, D.C., placing the city’s police department under temporary federal control and deploying 800 National Guard troops, citing high violent crime rates, homelessness, and urban decay. Invoking Section 740 of the 1973 Home Rule Act, the move can last up to 30 days without congressional approval but is likely to face legal challenges.
Trump argued the capital suffers from one of the highest violent crime and robbery rates among major U.S. cities, while Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and other officials disputed his claims, pointing to a sharp decline in violent crime this year compared to 2024. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb and several Democrats condemned the action as unconstitutional and politically motivated, with Senator Dick Durbin calling it “political theater.”
The decision has revived concerns over presidential overreach in deploying military forces domestically, echoing Trump’s controversial National Guard deployments during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, the January 6 Capitol riot, and unrest in Los Angeles earlier this year. Bowser argued that granting Washington statehood could prevent future federal takeovers of the city’s police force.
Credit: CGTN
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