President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday eliminating cashless bail for suspects arrested in Washington, D.C., and issued a separate order aimed at ending the policy nationwide — warning cities and states they could lose federal funding if they refuse to comply.
“We are at a point where Washington is booming again,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he signed the orders. “People are pouring in like we haven’t seen for years.”
The president announced his intention to eliminate cashless bail through an executive order. The order cited the following cases based solely on New York City:
–In 2022, a New York City man was released without bail after he smeared his own feces on a random woman waiting for the subway — despite having dozens of prior arrests, including for slugging a bus driver just months earlier and a heinous hate crime that occurred the prior year.
–In 2022, a New York man brutally executed a mother in front of her three children less than 24 hours after he was freed without bail in a violent assault of the same woman. The man had a prior conviction for kidnapping his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint.
–In 2023, two men who beat up a NYPD officer were freed without bail.
–In 2024, two illegal immigrants who jumped and bit two NYPD cops were cut loose without bail.
–In 2024, a suspected Tren de Aragua gang member — freed without bail after an attempted murder in New York — was arrested for drug trafficking and released again.
The executive order also referenced cases from Washington D.C.:
–In 2025, two days after a man was released without bail on charges of assaulting a police officer, he was then charged in a fatal stabbing on a Metro train.
–In 2024, a man charged a day care attack was released without bail, then arrested again for beating two teachers in front of toddlers. The man had numerous prior arrests.
–In 2023, a man who was allowed to roam free while awaiting trial for a D.C. murder was arrested for shooting into two homes in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
The president touted early results of his security push in the capital, claiming that over the last 11 days there had been “zero murders,” while police had “arrested a total of well over a thousand people,” seized “hundreds of guns away from young kids that were throwing them around like it was candy,” and apprehended “scores of illegal aliens.”
Trump has repeatedly slammed cashless bail as “a disaster,” arguing that it puts violent offenders back on the streets within hours. “Somebody murders somebody and they’re out on no-cash bail before the day is out,” he said earlier this month, singling out New York and Chicago as examples of failed policy.
Bail reform advocates say cashless bail reduces inequality in the justice system, but recent research shows mixed outcomes. A 2024 report from the Data Collaborative for Justice concluded that eliminating money bail increased recidivism among some felony defendants while decreasing it for misdemeanor cases.
In New York, Mayor Eric Adams has long attacked the state’s 2019 bail reform law, arguing it drove repeat offenses. The issue has become a flashpoint in the city’s November mayoral election, where Adams faces former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — and Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, who is campaigning on abolishing bail entirely. Cuomo has warned Mamdani’s proposals would be “the death nail” for New York’s economy.
Meanwhile, Trump signaled his sights are set beyond the capital. He recently suggested sending the National Guard into Chicago, calling the city “a mess.” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson pushed back, accusing the administration of being “uncoordinated, uncalled-for and unsound,” and insisting the city has reduced homicides by 30% and shootings by 40% in the past year. Trump shot back, calling Johnson “grossly incompetent.”
“Every place in the country where you have no-cash bail is a disaster,” Trump said. “Bad politicians started it. Bad leadership started it. But that’s the one thing that’s central.”