The Mayor of Washington, D.C. has issued a directive for the city to maintain its collaboration with federal law enforcement officers, even as President Donald Trump’s federalization of the nation’s capital is scheduled to conclude next week.
Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, released the order on Tuesday. It states that even after the public safety emergency Trump declared over crime in D.C. last month expires, city officials will “ensure coordination with federal law enforcement to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.” The directive became effective immediately and has no specified end date.
When he established the public safety emergency last month, Trump invoked a provision of the Home Rule Act that grants the President authority to take control of the city’s police force in “conditions of an emergency nature.” He asserted that the operation aimed to suppress violent crime, despite data indicating that violent crime in D.C. was already decreasing.
Law enforcement officers have arrested over 1,000 individuals in D.C. in the weeks since, according to reports. The Administration has promoted a further decline in crime amidst the takeover, with Trump describing the city as “a crime free zone” in a Monday post on Truth Social, where he commended Bowser for her cooperation with the crackdown. In her order, the mayor noted that “violent crime in the District has noticeably decreased” since Trump’s federalization of the city’s police force.
However, critics have cautioned that Trump’s strategy is unlikely to offer a genuine solution for crime in D.C. Other D.C. Democrats have criticized Bowser, who previously credited the presence of federal officers for the reduction in crime. Additionally, the mayor herself stated days before she issued her order that the increased presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and National Guard troops in D.C. is “not working.”
The provision in the Home Rule Act that Trump utilized permits the President to assume control of the D.C. police force for a maximum of 30 days. Beyond this period, both chambers of Congress would be required to enact a joint resolution into law to extend the operation. This means that Trump’s federalization of the city’s police force is expected to lapse on Sept. 10. Nonetheless, Bowser’s order invites the continued presence of and coordination with federal law enforcement officers even after that date.
In a statement published on social media, Bowser explained that she issued the order “to provide the pathway forward beyond the Presidential emergency.”
Her announcement on Tuesday differs from the stances adopted by other local officials and the courts, which have resisted Trump’s efforts to employ expansive presidential powers. Also on Tuesday, a judge ruled that the Trump Administration violated an 1878 federal law after the President deployed National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles earlier this summer. Over the weekend, the mayor of Chicago instructed city departments not to cooperate if the President deploys the National Guard, after Trump suggested that the city would be “next” in his plans to combat crime.
While Bowser’s order likely diminishes the potential for a confrontation between the Administration and D.C. as Trump’s authority over the city’s police force approaches its end, tensions in Chicago appear poised to escalate: The President on Tuesday affirmed he planned to deploy federal troops to the city despite local officials’ opposition. “We’re going to do it anyway,” he informed reporters in the Oval Office.
