President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 27 to create a task force to help crack down on crime in Washington, D.C., in addition to ensuring that “quality-of-life laws” in the nation’s capital are enforced.
The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force will consist of representatives from agencies including the Department of the Interior, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the Department of Transportation. It will be able to request assistance from local law enforcement in tasks such as monitoring the city’s sanctuary-city policy.
The executive order will ensure a federal role in maintaining order and safety in the District of Columbia.
“America’s capital must be a place in which residents, commuters, and tourists feel safe at all hours, including on public transit. Its highways, boulevards, and parks should be clean, well-kept, and pleasant,” the executive order stated.
“Its monuments, museums, and buildings should reflect and inspire awe and appreciation for our nation’s strength, greatness, and heritage,” it continued. “Our citizens deserve nothing less.”
In August, Trump pledged to combat crime and homelessness in Washington if elected.
“We will take over the horribly run capital of our nation in Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, rebuild our capital city, so there’s no longer a nightmare of murder and crime,” he said at a campaign rally in Georgia.
“We’re going to stop the murder and crime. You go down from your state, you end up getting mugged and murdered in our capital. It’ll be run tough and strong by our great police officers,” Trump added. “We will become the most beautiful capital, anywhere in the world.”
Washington’s crime and homelessness rates have been a source of scrutiny for decades. The district’s 20-year homicide rate peaked in 2023 before falling by 32 percent a year later, while homicides in 2025 appear similar to last year, according to the Washington Metropolitan Police.
Cumulative violent crime, which includes robberies and sexual assaults, is down 27 percent since last year, with all crime dropping 9 percent.
Meanwhile, Washington’s homelessness rate increased by 14 percent between 2023 and 2024, despite being 12 percent lower than the district’s homeless peak in 2020.
In 2023, Washington had 73 out of every 10,000 residents living in homelessness, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The district had a higher rate of homelessness than the states of New York and California, which had 52 and 46 out of 10,000 residents living in homelessness in 2023, respectively.
Washington ranked 15th on a 2025 list by U.S. News and World Report of American cities with the highest number of homeless people.
Earlier this month, Trump called for the city to clear out homeless encampments.
“We have notified the Mayor of Washington, D.C., that she must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically including the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House,” he posted on Truth Social.
In 2023, the GOP, which controlled the House, led the charge to block a measure by the D.C. council from taking effect that would have reduced mandatory minimums for some crimes, including carjackings. Congress passed the disapproval resolution, and President Joe Biden signed it.
In February, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) introduced a bill to end D.C.’s Home Rule, which gives the city some autonomy in governing its local affairs even though the District of Columbia is not a state. Lee introduced the same bill last year.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized the bill.
“Home Rule is a limited self-government, but what we should be focused on is our pathway to becoming the 51st state,” she said on Feb. 10.
On Dec. 30, Bowser met with Trump at the president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. She said it was a “great meeting.”
“We discussed areas for collaboration between local and federal government, especially around our federal workforce, underutilized federal buildings, parks and green spaces, and infrastructure,” she said in a statement.
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