WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
US President Donald Trump announced on August 11 that he was deploying 800 National Guard members to the capital and placing the Washington Metropolitan Police Department under federal control to combat what he said was a “wave of lawlessness” — despite data showing violent crime in 2024 was at its lowest level in three decades.
“I am deploying the National Guard to help restore law, order and public safety to Washington, D.C.,” Trump said at the White House, accompanied by administration officials including Defense Secretary Peter Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi. “Our capital city has been taken over by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals.”
The decision is the president’s latest attempt to expand executive authority over traditionally local issues, especially in cities run by Democratic administrations. Trump has dismissed criticism that he is creating a crisis to justify the president's increased powers in a city dominated by Democrats.
Hundreds of police officers and agents from multiple federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have been deployed to Washington in recent days. Trump has said he will send in the US military if necessary. Hegseth said he is prepared to deploy additional National Guard units from outside the city, while Bondi will oversee the takeover of the police force.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, has rejected Trump's claims, saying the city is "not seeing an increase in crime" and that violent crime was at a record low last year. According to police data, violent crime fell 26 percent in the first seven months of 2025, after a 35 percent drop in 2024, while overall crime fell 7 percent.
Trump has indicated that he may seek to dismantle Washington’s local autonomy, which would require Congress to repeal the 1973 Home Rule Act. Invoking a provision that allows for the temporary use of force in “special emergency circumstances,” the president declared a “public safety emergency.”
Trump has previously deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles, where he sent 5,000 troops in June in response to protests over immigration raids. The same day, a trial began in San Francisco on whether the president violated the law by deploying troops without the consent of the governor of California.
The president has direct authority over the 2,700 members of the Washington National Guard, unlike in states where governors decide whether to activate troops. The National Guard has been deployed to the capital several times, including after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
During his first term in 2020, Trump deployed the Guard to quell protests against police brutality following the killing of George Floyd, a move condemned by civil rights groups and opposed by Bowser.
The U.S. military is generally prohibited by law from directly engaging in domestic law enforcement.
Trump has used the issue of crime for political purposes for decades. His call for the death penalty in the 1989 Central Park Five case, in which five black and Latino teenagers were wrongly accused of rape, remains one of the most controversial episodes of his career. The Five sued Trump for defamation last year after he claimed during a debate that they had pleaded guilty, even though they had been acquitted in court.
