Trump deploys federal law enforcement to patrol crime-ridden DC

President Donald J. Trump is determined to clean up the crime-ridden hellhole that Washington, D.C., has become under Democrat rule, and federal law enforcement will now be patrolling the streets of the nation’s capital.

On Thursday, the White House announced the increased federal presence for the next seven days after Trump announced that he was mulling the idea of federalizing the city after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee was beaten to a bloody pulp by young thugs during an attempted carjacking last weekend.

“We have a capital that’s very unsafe,” the president told reporters at the White House earlier this week. “We have to run D.C.”

President Trump is going to make DC safe again. pic.twitter.com/wyBor5oXek

— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) August 7, 2025

“Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C.,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

“President Trump is committed to making our Nation’s capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world,” she added.

The beefed-up federal presence began at midnight and will include personnel from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and other agencies. The effort will be led by the U.S. Park Police. The federal law enforcement agents and officers will be in marked units, the White House said.

The White House said that the focus will be on “high traffic tourist areas.” There will be an option to extend the federal presence beyond the initial week.

“Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local ‘youths’ and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16-years-old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens, at the same time knowing that they will be almost immediately released. They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but it’s going to happen now!” Trump said in a Tuesday post to Truth Social.

He also shared a picture of the bloodied 19-year-old Edward Coristine, the DOGE whiz kid whose nickname of “Big Balls” drew national attention. The young man was viciously assaulted by a group of thugs who tried to steal the vehicle in the Logan Circle neighborhood early Sunday morning.

D.C. has become so dangerous that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller likened it to Baghdad and other violent third-world countries.

.@StephenM on Washington, D.C.: “It is more violent than Baghdad … [@POTUS] is going to do what’s necessary to make sure our nation’s capital is safe for all Americans.” pic.twitter.com/8Sf2Z2mnQ3

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 7, 2025

“The president has been very clear that he’s gonna take the action necessary to secure the city of Washington for the people who live here, for all the American people, and all who visit here,” Miller told NewsNation reporter Kellie Meyer. “It’s our capital city, it is more violent than Baghdad, it is more violent than parts of Ethiopia and parts of many of the most dangerous places in the world.”

“If D.C. doesn’t get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that they’re not going to get away with it anymore,” Trump said in his post to Truth Social.