Donald Trump announced on Monday ordering order in the capital Washington under the control of the federal authorities and deploying soldiers of the National Guard, exceptional measures for this city which he says “invaded by violent gangs” and wants to “clean up”.
• Read also: Trump sum the homeless to leave “far” from Washington
While official statistics show a decrease in violent crime in Washington, the American president said he invoked a measure that authorizes him to take control of the city of this city in the United States.
Unlike the 50 American states, the municipality of Washington indeed operates within the framework of a particular relationship with the federal state which limits its autonomy.
“It has become a situation of complete and total anarchy, and we are going to get rid of the slums,” said Donald Trump at a press conference at the White House, after having summoned the Washington homeless to go “far” from the city in a publication the day before on his social social platform.
The Ministry of Justice of the government of Joe Biden announced in early January that facts of violent crime in Washington had reached their lowest level in 2024 in more than 30 years.
According to the annual report of the Ministry of Housing, Washington also ranked 1524 in 2024 in the major American cities with the most homeless, with some 5,600 people identified.
“More soldiers”
In front of the press on Monday, the Republican president also promised that his initiative would not stop in Washington, where he decreed a state of emergency.
“It will go further. We start very strongly in (Washington) and we will clean this very quickly, “he said, citing several major cities considered as democratic bastions.
Donald Trump said he initially deployed 800 soldiers of the National Guard, a reserve corps, “in order to restore law, order, and public security”.
“But if necessary, we will deploy more soldiers directly to join those of the National Guard, and it will happen very quickly,” he warned, adding that hundreds of federal police officers, such as the FBI, had already been sent to the capital.
Trump had already mobilized the National Guard in California in June, against the advice of the Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, saying that he wanted to restore order in Los Angeles after demonstrations against waves of immigrant arrests by the Federal Immigration Police (ICE).
He then deployed 700 navies, active soldiers, in reinforcement in the big Californian city, before removing them at the end of July.
“A show”
Since his return to the White House, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to place Washington under the control of the federal authorities.
Established after the war of independence to serve as capital, Washington is not attached to any American state, and the Constitution provides that the congress has jurisdiction over its cases.
Since a law of 1973, the inhabitants can however elect a municipal council, even if its decisions are still controlled by the congress.
At the end of February, the Republican billionaire assured that he was supporting a legislative project aimed at returning to this law, in particular to improve the fight against crime.
“There are too many crimes, graffiti, too many tents (from homeless, editor’s note) on the lawns, these magnificent lawns,” he said to the press, emphasizing the importance of the appearance of the American capital where regular foreign dignitaries come.
And at the end of March, he signed a decree to increase the supervision of his government over the municipality, particularly in the fight against illegal immigration.
During the press conference on Monday, dozens of demonstrators gathered in front of the White House to express their opposition to federal interference in city affairs.
“There is absolutely no need for the National Guard here,” Elizabeth Crichley told AFP, a 62 -year -old retiree, denouncing “a spectacle” orchestrated.
Interviewed on the MSNBC channel on Sunday, the mayor of Washington denied an increase in crime in Washington, stressing that the statistics showed “trends in the right direction for each category. »»
“Any comparison with a country ravaged by the war is exaggerated and wrong,” added Muriel Bowser, responding to Stephen Miller, close advisor to Donald Trump, who said Thursday that Washington was “more violent than Baghdad”.
