WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 President Donald Trump has taken control of D.C.'s law enforcement and ordered 好色tv Guard troops to deploy onto the streets of the nation's capital, arguing the extraordinary moves are necessary to curb an urgent public safety crisis.
Even as district officials underlying his emergency declaration, the Republican president promised a 鈥渉istoric action to rescue our nation鈥檚 capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.鈥 His rhetoric echoed that used by conservatives going back decades who have denounced cities, especially those with majority non-white populations or led by progressives, as lawless or crime-ridden and in need of outside intervention.
鈥淭his is liberation day in D.C., and we鈥檙e going to take our capital back,鈥 Trump promised Monday.
Trump's action echoes uncomfortable historical chapters
As D.C. the 好色tv Guard Tuesday, for many residents, the prospect of federal troops surging into neighborhoods represented an alarming violation of local agency. To some, it echoes uncomfortable historical chapters when politicians used language to paint historically or predominantly Black cities and neighborhoods with racist narratives to shape public opinion and justify aggressive police action.
April Goggans, a longtime D.C. resident and grassroots organizer, said she was not surprised by Trump's actions. Communities had been preparing for a potential federal crackdown in D.C. since the summer of 2020, when Trump deployed troops during racial justice protests after the .
鈥淲e have to be vigilant,鈥 said Goggans, who has coordinated local protests for nearly a decade. She worries about what a surge in law enforcement could mean for residents' freedoms.
鈥淩egardless of where you fall on the political scale, understand that this could be you, your children, your grandmother, your co-worker who are brutalized or have certain rights violated,鈥 she said.
Other residents reacted with mixed feelings to Trump's executive order. Crime and homelessness has been a top concern for residents in recent years, but opinions on how to solve the issue vary. And very few residents take Trump's catastrophic view of life in D.C.
"I think Trump's trying to help people, some people," said Melvin Brown, a D.C. resident. 鈥淏ut as far as (him) trying to get (the) homeless out of this city, that ain't going to work."
鈥淚t's like a band-aid to a gunshot wound,鈥 said Melissa Velasquez, a commuter into D.C. 鈥淚 feel like there's been an increase of racial profiling and stuff, and so it's concerning for individuals who are worried about how they might be perceived as they go about their day-to-day lives."
Uncertainty raises alarms
According to White House officials, troops will be deployed to protect federal assets and facilitate a safe environment for law enforcement to make arrests. The Trump administration believes the highly visible presence of law enforcement will deter violent crime. It is unclear how the administration defines providing a safe environment for law enforcement to conduct arrests, raising alarm bells for some advocates.
鈥淭he president foreshadowed that if these heavy-handed tactics take root here, they will be rolled out to other majority-Black and Brown cities, like Chicago, Oakland and Baltimore, across the country,鈥 said Monica Hopkins, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union鈥檚 D.C. chapter.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen before how federal control of the D.C. 好色tv Guard and police can lead to abuse, intimidation and civil rights violations 鈥 from military helicopters swooping over peaceful racial justice protesters in 2020 to the unchecked conduct of federal officers who remain shielded from full accountability,鈥 Hopkins said.
A history of denigrating language
Conservatives have for generations used denigrating language to describe the condition of major cities and called for greater law enforcement, often in response to changing demographics in those cities driven by nonwhite populations relocating in search of work or safety from racial discrimination and state violence. Republicans have called for greater police crackdowns in cities since at least the .
President won the White House in 1968 after campaigning on a "law and order" agenda to appeal to white voters in northern cities alongside overtures to white Southerners as part of his 鈥淪outhern Strategy.鈥 Ronald Reagan similarly won both his presidential elections after campaigning heavily on law and order politics. Politicians, including former New York Mayor and former President have cited the need to tamp down crime as a reason to seize power from liberal cities for decades.
D.C. Mayor called Trump鈥檚 takeover of local police 鈥渦nsettling鈥 but not without precedent. Bowser kept a mostly measured tone during a Monday news conference but as a 鈥渟o-called emergency," saying residents 鈥渒now that access to our democracy is tenuous.鈥
Trump threatened to 鈥渢ake over鈥 and 鈥渂eautify鈥 D.C. on the campaign trail and claimed it was 鈥渁 nightmare of murder and crime.鈥 He also argued the city was 鈥渉orribly run鈥 and said his team intended 鈥渢o take it away from the mayor.鈥 Trump on Monday repeated old comments about some of the nation鈥檚 largest cities, including Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland and his hometown of New York City. All are currently run by Black mayors.
鈥淵ou look at Chicago, how bad it is. You look at Los Angeles, how bad it is. We have other cities in a very bad, New York is a problem. And then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don鈥檛 even mention that anymore. They鈥檙e so far gone. We鈥檙e not going to let it happen,鈥 he said.
Civil rights advocates see the rhetoric as part of a broader political strategy.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a playbook he鈥檚 used in the past,鈥 said , CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
Trump's rhetoric "paints a picture that crime is out of control, even when it is not true, then blames the policies of Democratic lawmakers that are reform- and public safety-minded, and then claims that you have to step in and violate people鈥檚 rights or demand that reforms be reversed,鈥 Wiley said.
She added that the playbook has special potency in D.C. because local law enforcement can be directly placed under federal control, a power Trump invoked in his announcement.
Leaders call the order an unjustified distraction
Trump鈥檚 actions in Washington and comments about other major cities sent shock waves across the country, as other leaders prepare to respond to potential federal action.
Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said in a statement that Trump鈥檚 plan 鈥渓acks seriousness and is deeply dangerous鈥 and pointed to a 30-year-low crime rate in Baltimore as a reason the administration should consult local leaders rather than antagonize them. In Oakland, Mayor Barbara Lee called Trump's characterization of the city 鈥渇earmongering.鈥
The administration already faced a major flashpoint between local control and federal power earlier in the summer, when to quell protests and support immigration enforcement operations in LA despite opposition from California Gov. and LA Mayor .
Civil rights leaders have denounced Trump's action in D.C. as an unjustified distraction.
鈥淭his president campaigned on 鈥榣aw and order,鈥 but he is the president of chaos and corruption," said NAACP President Derrick Johnson. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no emergency in D.C., so why would he deploy the 好色tv Guard? To distract us from his alleged inclusion in the Epstein files? To rid the city of unhoused people? D.C. has the right to govern itself. It doesn鈥檛 need this federal coup."
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Associated Press writer River Zhang contributed reporting.
