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President Trump’s crackdown on crime in Washington, DC has been a roaring success. But with public support split does President Trump actually have the authority to undertake a similar effort in other crime-plagued cites, such as Chicago or New York?
While Democrats and DC’s ineffective and corrupt local politicians have been wailing and gnashing their teeth over home rule with not-so thinly veiled claims of racism, under the Home Rule Act, the President possesses clear statutory authority to exercise at least temporary law enforcement authority over the nation’s capital city by federalizing the Washington D.C. police force and deploying 800 National Guard troops.
President Trump possesses both the immediate authority and the responsibility to ensure the capital city does not descend into chaos if city leaders are not up to the job. And, the city’s own crime statistics depict a municipality raging out of control. Homicide rates have doubled in the last ten years. Washington, D.C. is one of the fifty most dangerous cities in the world and the fourth most dangerous city in the nation.
Crime stats since the takeover show the firm hand has been a huge success. WJLA reports with the National Guard deployed in Washington, D.C., crime rates have seen a significant decline. Carjackings have decreased by 83%, robberies by 46%, car thefts by 21%, and overall violent crime by 22%.
And recent polls suggest that the American public is behind Trump’s crackdown on crime, although less strongly than one might think.
A recent latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 53% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of Trump’s recent executive order declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia, including 39% who Strongly Approve. Forty-two percent (42%) disapprove, including 34% who Strongly Disapprove.
Approval of Trump’s executive order declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia is sharply divided along party lines, with 80% of Republicans at least somewhat approving, while 61% of Democrats disapprove. Among unaffiliated voters, 45% approve and 46% disapprove of Trump’s executive order on crime in D.C.
On Friday, Trump said he was considering deploying guardsmen to Chicago as well. “We’re going to make our cities very, very safe. Chicago is a mess,” he said. “We’ll straighten that one out probably next. That will be our next one after this, and it won’t even be tough.” He later mentioned New York as one of the cities he’d like the National Guard to “help.”
With public support split does President Trump actually have the authority to undertake a similar effort in other crime-plagued cities, such as Chicago or New York?
The justification is certainly there.
As Rachel K. Paulose pointed out in an article for the Spectator, crime rates have risen dramatically in the last five years in the United States. In 2020, murder rates hit their highest single year jump, an astonishing 30 percent, in recorded domestic history. Carjackings in major cities increased 93 percent from 2019 to 2023; over half involved a firearm and nearly 30 percent resulted in injury or death. Last year, a rape occurred every four minutes.
Metropolitan mayors defy federal law enforcement by declaring themselves sanctuary cities and sheltering criminal illegal aliens. Radical district attorneys disregard the legislative code and decriminalize heinous conduct. In the wake of the George Floyd murder, law enforcement leaders describe police morale, recruitment, and retention as down nationally.
All this grim news is top of mind for voters, 60 percent of whom said last year that stemming the rise of crime should be a top priority for the President and Congress to address.
However, the Supreme Court repeatedly has held there is no “general federal police power.”
Ms. Paulose suggests the leaked proposal to create a “Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force“ made up of National Guard troops to quickly quell homegrown disturbances might be feasible, so long as it is temporary and deployed under very limited statutory authority.
The notion of a federal national police force does not appear to be authorized under statute or the Constitution, so a multijurisdictional National Guard “strike team” absent coordination with the respective state governors seems to be out.
But is it really so out of the question?
We suggest that the President might be well advised to start at the top and declare “sanctuary cities” such as Chicago, New York, and Baltimore to be in a state of insurrection for refusing to follow federal law. He could then justify arresting the mayor and if necessary other city leaders and deploying the National Guard.
Would such a move be politically risky?
Of course, but if the results achieved were anything like those achieved in DC, the risk would be amply rewarded at the ballot box and by the gratitude of the city’s liberated residents.
- Donald Trump DC crime
- Washington DC crime rate
- Attorney General Pam Bondi
- law enforcement
- Blue city crime
- Chicago crime rate
- New York crime rate
- presidential authority
- National Guard
- crime statistics
- DC murder rate
- crime emergency
- public opinion
- Trump executive order
- Carjackings
- Sanctuary Cities
- Federal Police Power
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