The US military is preparing to activate hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, DC as a part of President Trump’s sweeping federal crackdown on crime in the nation’s capital, according to authorities.
Trump has yet to make a final decision about the activation of federal troops, but the National Guard is currently readying to deploy them, two US officials with knowledge of the operation confirmed to Reuters.
The preparation comes as 120 FBI agents from across the country have already begun patrolling DC streets overnight and backing up area cops at carjacking hot spots, despite many lacking local patrol work training, The Washington Post reported.
“Be prepared! There will be no “MR. NICE GUY.” We want our Capital BACK,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social Sunday ahead of a planned White House press conference Monday morning about the city’s cleanliness and general condition.
The possible order follows Trump’s “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful” executive order signed on March 28, which established a task force dedicated to fighting crime and reducing illegal immigration in the city.
“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong,” Trump wrote in the social media post — comparing the action to his illegal immigration crackdown at the border.
“The Mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive,” Trump said in a different post Sunday.
Bowser has since fought back on Trump’s characterization of the city.
“If the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here,” Bowser said on MSNBC Sunday morning. “But it won’t be because there’s a spike in crime.”
Violent crime is down 26% compared with this time in 2024, according to DC police data, and there have been roughly 20% fewer juvenile arrests this year, the Washington Post reported.
However, the White House isn’t backing down — noting that the city’s “been plagued by petty and violent crime for far too long,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement..
US Park Police arrested more than half a dozen perps in the capital on charges including possession of stolen firearms and illicit drugs as part of a federal crackdown launched by the Trump administration Thursday to clean up the nation’s capital.
Eight culprits were arrested in the surge and two handguns were confiscated from offenders with prior felony convictions, Park Police Fraternal Order of Police chairman Kenneth Spencer told The Post Friday.
At least 30 “fraudulent oxycodone pills” — which appeared to be fentanyl — were also seized, along with 210 grams of crack cocaine, 600 grams of marijuana, 64 grams of hashish oil and cash with a total value of $3,600, Spencer added.
The show of force was in part sparked by the beating of a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who was beaten and bloodied by a mob of 10 minors last Sunday as he thwarted a carjacking attempt in the nation’s capital, according to DC police.
Edward Coristine, whose LinkedIn handle earned him the nickname “Big Balls” at DOGE, was with a woman near downtown DC when he saw the group of juveniles approach their car and “make a comment about taking the vehicle.
Trump and Coristine’s former boss Elon Musk shared a photograph of the aftermath of the assault on Coristine early Tuesday afternoon, showing the former DOGE staffer sitting on the ground, bloodied and with his ripped shirt barely hanging on his body.
Critics and residents have fired back at Trump’s sweeping crackdown and removal of the homeless as inhumane.
“That money could be better spent getting folks housing and support,” Jesse Rabinowitz, campaign and communications director at the National Homelessness Law Center, told the Washington Post.
It is not yet clear what exactly federal troops would do, but they could be deployed to protect federal agents or even carry out administrative tasks to free up law enforcement, officials said.
With Post wires.
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