The US military is reportedly prepared to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, DC, as part of President Trump’s broad federal assault on crime in the nation’s capital.
Trump has not yet made a final decision on whether to activate federal soldiers, but the National Guard is ready to deploy, according to two US officials familiar with the operation.
The preparedness comes as 120 FBI agents from throughout the country have already begun patrolling DC streets overnight and assisting local officers in carjacking hotspots, even though many lack local patrol training, according to the Washington Post.
“Be prepared! There will be no ‘MR. NICE GUY.’ We want our Capital BACK,” Trump wrote in a post on Sunday on Truth Social ahead of a planned White House press conference on Monday morning about the city’s cleanliness and general condition.
The probable directive follows Trump’s March 28 executive order “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” which formed a task force to combat crime and reduce 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 on 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 is not backing down, stating that the city has “been plagued by petty and violent crime for far too long,” according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
As part of a federal operation initiated Thursday by the Trump administration to clean up the nation’s capital, US Park Police arrested more than half a dozen suspects in the capital on accusations including possession of stolen firearms and illicit substances.
Eight people were detained during the surge, and two weapons were taken from offenders with past felony convictions, Park Police Fraternal Order of Police head Kenneth Spencer told The Post on Friday.
At least 30 “fraudulent oxycodone pills” that appeared to be fentanyl were also recovered, along with 210 grams of crack cocaine, 600 grams of marijuana, 64 grams of hashish oil, and cash worth $3,600, Spencer said.
According to DC police, the show of force was motivated in part by the beating of a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer who was beaten by a mob of ten youths last Sunday while attempting to stop a carjacking in the nation’s capital.
Edward Coristine, whose LinkedIn username earned him the nickname “Big Balls” at DOGE, was with a woman near downtown DC when he noticed a bunch of juveniles approach their car and “make a comment about taking the vehicle.”
Trump and Coristine’s former employer, Elon Musk, posted a photo of the aftermath of the assault on Coristine early Tuesday afternoon, showing the former DOGE employee resting on the ground, bloodied and with his ripped shirt barely hanging on his body.
Critics and citizens have condemned Trump’s widespread crackdown and expulsion of the homeless as heartless.
“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.