The White House announced Thursday night that starting at 12 a.m., there will be an increased presence of federal law enforcement in D.C.
It comes days after a 19-year-old former DOGE official was violently beaten during what police say was an attempted unarmed carjacking in Northwest.
“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. President Trump is committed to making our Nation’s capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The administration says utilizing federal resources will increase enforcement and reduce violent crime.
It also furthers a pledge the president has made about the District many times before.
“We’re going to have to federalize it, run it the way it’s supposed to be run,” Trump said on Tuesday.
On Thursday afternoon, a White House official had told FOX 5 details of the operation have not been finalized, but by 9:30 p.m., those details were sent out to media.
The White House says this will be a seven-day operation involving multiple agencies, including the FBI, ATF, DEA and Homeland Security. They also say there will be Enforcement and Removal Operations agents — a division of ICE.
Trump has repeatedly pledged to “take over” D.C. to make it “safe and beautiful.”
He signed an executive order back in March aimed at beautifying the city. Several homeless encampments were also cleared out that month.
But according to police, crime is down significantly in 2025 with statistics showing year-over-year reductions in homicides, sex abuse cases, assaults with a dangerous weapon, and robberies amounting to a 26 percent drop in violent crime overall.
FOX 5 DC’s Josh Rosenthal joins LiveNOW’s Andrew Craft with more.
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