Trump’s D.C. Police Takeover and National Guard Deployment: What to Know

President Trump made a show of force in Washington, D.C., this week, exercising his unique powers over the nation’s capital to commandeer the city’s police force, deploy the National Guard and send hundreds of federal law enforcement agents into the city in what he described as an effort to combat crime.

It is the first time a president has used a declared emergency to wrest control of the city’s police, a step that its mayor said was “unsettling” though allowed under the law. Congress and the executive branch have long exerted controls over the city’s budget and other decisions. But the president’s move may represent the biggest encroachment on the city’s autonomy since it was granted home rule 52 years ago.

While crime is a concern for many residents, the situation on the ground differs from Mr. Trump’s hyperbolic statements in justifying the moves: Official data shows that crime is falling — particularly violent crime, which hit a 30-year low last year — after surging during the pandemic.

Mr. Trump, who has stoked fears of violent crimes in America’s cities going back more than 35 years, delivered increasingly dire threats after returning to office in January that if he was not satisfied with the city’s efforts to combat crime, he would order a federal takeover of Washington — in effect dissolving the local government to rule it directly.

Mr. Trump took his first firm steps in that direction last week, after a prominent young administration official was beaten by a mob of young assailants in an attempted carjacking in Washington.

Here’s what to know.

What is Trump doing on law enforcement in Washington? And how is he able to do it?

In the span of a week, Mr. Trump rapidly ratcheted up moves going over the heads of D.C. leaders. He has invoked his authority in overseeing federal law enforcement and a 1973 law that gives the president the power to take temporary control of the city’s police.