Washington – President Donald Trump took unprecedented measures on Monday to federalize Washington, DC, declaring that these actions are necessary to combat crime, even when city officials have been supported by data that demonstrates a decrease in violence.
He took control of the police service and deployed the national guard under the laws and constitutional powers which give more influence to the federal government on the capital of the nation than on other cities. The population of Washington, which was historically the black majority, chose its own mayor and the municipal council until 1973, when President Richard Nixon, a Republican, promulgated the Autonomy Act.
The measure has always left significant power to the president and the congress, although no president previously exercised the powers of the police.
Activation of the National Guard
The Constitution establishes the creation of the Columbia district to serve as a headquarters of the federal power under the jurisdiction of the congress.
Although the Autonomy Act has granted greater local control, the president can still deploy the National Guard to Washington. His own government did it during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, when its members were then blamed for piloting a helicopter at very little height on a crowd. The goalkeeper was deployed again during Trump’s first term on January 6, 2021, when a crowd of his supporters invaded the Capitol.
Trump’s actions in Washington are produced while the legal dispute over its deployment of the National Guard in another city with the Democratic government, Los Angeles, despite the objections of the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom.
His authority is less clear in California, but a court of appeal has refused to intervene so far in this case. A minor court judge began a three -day trial on Monday to determine whether the deployment violated another federal law.
Police check
Article 740 of the Autonomy Act allows the president to take control of the Washington Metropolitan Police Service for 48 hours – with possible extensions of up to 30 days – during emergency hours. No president has already done so, said Monica Hopkins, executive director of Washington Aclu.
Trump has referred to a series of recent incidents, including the murder of a 21 -year -old congress trainee and the government’s efficiency department (DOGE for his initials in English) during an attempted theft.
“It is the Liberation Day at DC and we will recover our Capitol,” said the president.
The mayor of DC, the Democrat Muriel Bowser, described control as “unpublished”. He said that in general terms, the city’s violent crimes have reached a minimum of the last 30 years, after a rebound in 2023. Vehicle theft, for example, dropped by around 50% in 2024 and decreased this year again. However, more than half of those arrested are minors, and the extension of these punishments is a controversy point in the federal government.
How long will it last?
For the moment, we do not know how long the takeover or exactly what it could mean. It could also face legal challenges.
Congress still has power on issues such as the budget and laws approved by the municipal council, but should repeal the law on autonomy to extend federal power in the district.
This is a question that has been promoted by certain Republican legislators, but it is almost a fact that a reform of this type would find a firm opposition among the majority of Democrats.
The law is specific to DC and does not affect other communities in the country which claim to have their own powers of “autonomy” in relation to their governments of states.
However, Hopkins said Trump’s actions in Washington could predict similar tactics in other cities. “It should alarm everyone,” he said, “not only in Washington.”
