President Donald Trump declared Monday that he “won’t allow” the nation’s capital to fall back into being a sanctuary city that refuses to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
Trump is prepared to call a national emergency and federalize Washington, D.C.’s police force again, he announced in a Truth Social post. The declaration came after Mayor Muriel Bowser publicly suggested that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) would no longer cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) now that the president’s first emergency order has expired.
“D.C. has gone from one of the most dangerous and murder ridden cities in the U.S.A., and even around the World, to one of the safest – In just a few weeks,” Trump said on social media, boasting of the drop in crime during his federal takeover of the country’s capital city.
“It has been a beautiful thing to watch but, now, under pressure from the Radical Left Democrats, Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has presided over this violent criminal takeover of our Capital for years, has informed the Federal Government that the Metropolitan Police Department will no longer cooperate with ICE in removing and relocating dangerous illegal aliens,” the president continued.
If this sanctuary policy of non-cooperation were to return, crime would come “roaring” back into the city, Trump wrote. He said he stood with the “people and businesses” in not allowing this to happen.
“I’ll call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary!!!” the president declared. “Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Bowser’s office did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The president declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., in early August, a move that put the MPD under federal control and oversaw the deployment of hundreds of National Guard members across the city. The District of Columbia, a city that has for years been a sanctuary haven that refuses to work with federal immigration authorities, was forced to begin cooperating with ICE agents under an executive order issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi just days later.
Trump’s federal crackdown on DC led to a significant improvement in public safety, per a Daily Caller review of MPD data. When comparing crime statistics over a two-week period during Trump’s federal law enforcement takeover to the same time periods in 2024 and 2023, there was a sharp drop in crime — a 21% drop in 2024 and a 33% drop in 2023.
In September, Bowser issued her own order authorizing cooperation between local police and federal law enforcement. The mayor had also publicly acknowledged that the federal law enforcement surge in the city had helped reduce crime and said she was grateful for the assistance.
“We know that when carjackings go down, when the use of gun goes down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer,” Bowser said at the time. “So this surge has been important to us for that reason.”
However, Congress did not vote to extend Trump’s 30-day emergency authority over the MPD, rendering it now expired. Following the end of this emergency authority, Bowser publicly stated that she’s expecting local police to revert back to “pre-emergency status quo” and discontinue working with ICE.
“Immigration enforcement is not what MPD does. And with the end of the emergency, it won’t be what MPD does in the future,” Bowser said Wednesday during a public event, according to WUSA 9.
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