Additional National Guard forces from a number of Republican-governed states are making their way to Washington, D.C., bolstering President Donald Trump’s initiative to populate the Democrat-administered city with military personnel and federal officials in what he terms an effort to tackle violent crime, according to Reuters.
Republican leaders from Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee consented to send troops to Washington, following similar actions from their counterparts in West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio, at the request of the Trump administration.
Trump asserts that Washington is besieged by violence and homelessness, a characterization local officials counter. Federal and municipal data indicate that violent crime rates have dropped since reaching a peak in 2023, although the capital’s homicide rate remains above that of most major U.S. cities.
„DC has provided false crime figures”
The Justice Department has initiated an inquiry to assess whether the city distorted statistics to present crime rates in a more favorable light, reported the Washington Post, citing anonymous sources.
On Monday, Donald Trump posted on social media: „D.C. has provided false crime numbers to create a false sense of safety.” The U.S. president has made similar assertions in the past week.
On August 11, Trump declared he had deployed 800 National Guard troops in the city and temporarily took control of the local police force, marking a significant exertion of presidential authority over the U.S. capital. The federal government also mobilized agents from multiple agencies, including the FBI, to patrol the streets of the city.
After a legal suit brought by the city’s attorney general, the administration reached a deal with Mayor Muriel Bowser to retain Police Chief Pamela Smith in charge of departmental operations.
Trump has warned of comparable measures in other Democrat-led cities such as Chicago, though he would likely encounter more legal challenges there than in Washington, where the federal government still maintains extensive oversight under U.S. law.
Critics charge the U.S. president with concocting a crisis to assert greater control over Washington and target Democrat-run areas.
