Trump takes over DC police in extraordinary move
Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his approach to his presidency, wielding executive authority in ways that have little precedent in modern US history and in defiance of political norms.
The president cast his actions as necessary to "rescue" Washington from what he described as a wave of lawlessness, despite statistics showing that violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024 and has continued to decline this year.
"I'm deploying the National Guard to help re-establish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democrat-governed city.
Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June over the objections of state and local officials.
And Trump signalled at his news conference that another major US city with Democratic leadership could be next - Chicago, where violent crime was down significantly in the first half of the year.
"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said at the White House, adding, "Hopefully LA is watching."
Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which is under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law.
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have fanned out across the city in recent days.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force takeover, Trump said.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Trump's claims of unchecked violence, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year.
Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities.
Since then, however, violent crime dropped 35 per cent in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26 per cent in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police.
The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in an X post, and said his office was "considering all of our options".
"Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X.
Over the past week, Trump has intensified his messaging, suggesting he might attempt to strip the city of its local autonomy and implement a full federal takeover.
The District of Columbia, established in 1790, operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council.
Trump said last week that lawyers are examining how to overturn the law, a move that would likely require Congress to revoke it.
In taking over the Metropolitan Police Department, Trump invoked a section of the act that allows the president to use force for 30 days when "special conditions of an emergency nature" exist.
Trump said he was declaring a "public safety emergency" in the city.
Under the statute, presidential control is "designed to be a temporary emergency measure, not a permanent takeover," University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday said.
US President Donald Trump is deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington DC, and putting the city's police department under federal control, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.
Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his approach to his presidency, wielding executive authority in ways that have little precedent in modern US history and in defiance of political norms.
The president cast his actions as necessary to "rescue" Washington from what he described as a wave of lawlessness, despite statistics showing that violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024 and has continued to decline this year.
"I'm deploying the National Guard to help re-establish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democrat-governed city.
Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June over the objections of state and local officials.
And Trump signalled at his news conference that another major US city with Democratic leadership could be next - Chicago, where violent crime was down significantly in the first half of the year.
"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said at the White House, adding, "Hopefully LA is watching."
Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which is under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law.
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have fanned out across the city in recent days.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force takeover, Trump said.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Trump's claims of unchecked violence, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year.
Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities.
Since then, however, violent crime dropped 35 per cent in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26 per cent in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police.
The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in an X post, and said his office was "considering all of our options".
"Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X.
Over the past week, Trump has intensified his messaging, suggesting he might attempt to strip the city of its local autonomy and implement a full federal takeover.
The District of Columbia, established in 1790, operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council.
Trump said last week that lawyers are examining how to overturn the law, a move that would likely require Congress to revoke it.
In taking over the Metropolitan Police Department, Trump invoked a section of the act that allows the president to use force for 30 days when "special conditions of an emergency nature" exist.
Trump said he was declaring a "public safety emergency" in the city.
Under the statute, presidential control is "designed to be a temporary emergency measure, not a permanent takeover," University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday said.
US President Donald Trump is deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington DC, and putting the city's police department under federal control, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.
Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his approach to his presidency, wielding executive authority in ways that have little precedent in modern US history and in defiance of political norms.
The president cast his actions as necessary to "rescue" Washington from what he described as a wave of lawlessness, despite statistics showing that violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024 and has continued to decline this year.
"I'm deploying the National Guard to help re-establish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democrat-governed city.
Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June over the objections of state and local officials.
And Trump signalled at his news conference that another major US city with Democratic leadership could be next - Chicago, where violent crime was down significantly in the first half of the year.
"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said at the White House, adding, "Hopefully LA is watching."
Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which is under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law.
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have fanned out across the city in recent days.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force takeover, Trump said.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Trump's claims of unchecked violence, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year.
Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities.
Since then, however, violent crime dropped 35 per cent in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26 per cent in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police.
The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in an X post, and said his office was "considering all of our options".
"Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X.
Over the past week, Trump has intensified his messaging, suggesting he might attempt to strip the city of its local autonomy and implement a full federal takeover.
The District of Columbia, established in 1790, operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council.
Trump said last week that lawyers are examining how to overturn the law, a move that would likely require Congress to revoke it.
In taking over the Metropolitan Police Department, Trump invoked a section of the act that allows the president to use force for 30 days when "special conditions of an emergency nature" exist.
Trump said he was declaring a "public safety emergency" in the city.
Under the statute, presidential control is "designed to be a temporary emergency measure, not a permanent takeover," University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday said.
US President Donald Trump is deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington DC, and putting the city's police department under federal control, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.
Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his approach to his presidency, wielding executive authority in ways that have little precedent in modern US history and in defiance of political norms.
The president cast his actions as necessary to "rescue" Washington from what he described as a wave of lawlessness, despite statistics showing that violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024 and has continued to decline this year.
"I'm deploying the National Guard to help re-establish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC," Trump told a news conference at the White House.
It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democrat-governed city.
Trump sent thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June over the objections of state and local officials.
And Trump signalled at his news conference that another major US city with Democratic leadership could be next - Chicago, where violent crime was down significantly in the first half of the year.
"If we need to, we're going to do the same thing in Chicago, which is a disaster," Trump said at the White House, adding, "Hopefully LA is watching."
Trump has shown particular interest in taking over Washington, which is under the jurisdiction of Congress but exercises self-governance under a 1973 US law.
Hundreds of officers and agents from more than a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA and ATF, have fanned out across the city in recent days.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will oversee the police force takeover, Trump said.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Trump's claims of unchecked violence, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year.
Violent crime, including murders, spiked in 2023, turning Washington into one of the nation's deadliest cities.
Since then, however, violent crime dropped 35 per cent in 2024, according to federal data, and it has fallen an additional 26 per cent in the first seven months of 2025, according to city police.
The city's attorney general, Brian Schwalb, called Trump's actions "unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful" in an X post, and said his office was "considering all of our options".
"Donald Trump has no basis to take over the local police department. And zero credibility on the issue of law and order. Get lost," House of Representatives Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries wrote on X.
Over the past week, Trump has intensified his messaging, suggesting he might attempt to strip the city of its local autonomy and implement a full federal takeover.
The District of Columbia, established in 1790, operates under the Home Rule Act, which gives Congress ultimate authority but allows residents to elect a mayor and city council.
Trump said last week that lawyers are examining how to overturn the law, a move that would likely require Congress to revoke it.
In taking over the Metropolitan Police Department, Trump invoked a section of the act that allows the president to use force for 30 days when "special conditions of an emergency nature" exist.
Trump said he was declaring a "public safety emergency" in the city.
Under the statute, presidential control is "designed to be a temporary emergency measure, not a permanent takeover," University of Minnesota law professor Jill Hasday said.
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News.com.au
12 minutes ago
- News.com.au
‘Personal victory for Putin': Ukraine panics as Trump floats land swap of occupied Donbas to end war
Ukrainians living in towns close to the eastern front lines have reacted with 'panic' at the prospect they could soon become part of Russia under a possible land swap deal floated by Donald Trump ahead of peace talks with Vladimir Putin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that his Russian counterpart had scored a 'personal victory' by getting invited to talks with Mr Trump on US soil, and that the meeting further delayed sanctions on Moscow. Mr Zelensky also ruled out withdrawing troops from Ukraine's eastern Donbas region as part of a peace deal, after the US President suggested he and Mr Putin might negotiate a land swap to end the war. The summit, set to take place in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday, will be the first between a sitting US and Russian president since 2021 and comes as Mr Trump seeks to broker an end to Russia's nearly three-and-a-half year war in Ukraine. Mr Zelensky, who is not scheduled to take part, has expressed concern that Russia will put forward hard-line demands and that Mr Trump will hammer out a deal that will demand Ukraine cede swathes of territory. Russia is reportedly pushing Ukraine to withdraw from the remaining 30 per cent of the Donetsk region it controls, covering 9000 square kilometres, as part of a ceasefire deal. 'We will not withdraw from the Donbas … if we withdraw from the Donbas today — our fortifications, our terrain, the heights we control — we will clearly open a bridgehead for the Russians to prepare an offensive,' Mr Zelensky told reporters. The Donbas encompasses the eastern Ukrainian regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, both of which Russia claims as its own and has sought to control since its invasion began in 2022. Donbas residents 'Panic' Speaking to CNN in Sloviansk, a Donbas town close to the eastern front lines that remains under Ukraine's control, local journalist Mykhailo said the prospect of suddenly becoming Russian territory was calling 'panic'. 'Many of my friends want to stay here and we all will have to leave,' he said. 'But frankly speaking I don't think it is going to happen.' Mykhailo said he was concerned that the rushed peace talks could fall flat. 'What Trump did wrong he took him out of the bog — he took him out and said 'Vladimir, I want to talk to you. I just like you,'' he said. 'He didn't care that every day Ukrainians die.' In the town's maternity ward, new mother Taisiya was terrified at the prospect the US could give their town away. 'I saw the news,' she said. 'That would be very bad. But we have no influence on that. It's not going to be our decision. People will just give away their homes.' 'Personal victory' Mr Zelensky said Friday's summit would effectively postpone new US sanctions on Russia — sanctions that Mr Trump had promised to impose if Mr Putin refused to halt his war. 'First, he will meet on US territory, which I consider his personal victory,' Mr Zelensky said. 'Second, he is coming out of isolation because he is meeting on US territory. Third, with this meeting, he has somehow postponed sanctions.' Mr Zelensky also said he had received a 'signal' from US envoy Steve Witkoff that Russia might agree to a ceasefire, without elaborating. 'This was the first signal from them,' Mr Zelensky said. To prepare for the summit, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a call with US counterpart Marco Rubio, who told a US radio show earlier that Mr Trump did not regard the meeting as a 'concession' to Russia. Why Zelensky wasn't invited The White House, meanwhile, confirmed that Mr Zelensky had been sidelined from the peace talks because Mr Putin had extended the invitation to meet. Mr Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the aim 'for the President is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war'. 'I think the President of the United States getting in the room with the President of Russia, sitting face-to-face rather than speaking over the telephone will give this President the best indication of how to end this war and where this is headed,' Ms Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. Mr Zelensky, meanwhile, has remained firm that any decisions to end the war without Ukraine will prove futile. 'Any decisions made against us, any decisions made without Ukraine — they are simultaneously decisions against peace,' the Ukrainian leader said in a statement on Saturday. 'These are dead decisions; they will never work. And what we all need is a real, living peace, one that people will respect.' The European Union (EU), in a statement on Tuesday, also warned 'the path to peace in Ukraine cannot be decided without Ukraine'. 'Meaningful negotiations can only take place in the context of a ceasefire or reduction of hostilities,' the EU said. 'A just and lasting peace that brings stability and security must respect international law, including the principles of independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and that international borders must not be changed by force.' 'No equipment' On the battlefield, Mr Zelensky warned Russia had made sharp advances near the coal mining town of Dobropillia and was planning new ground assaults on at least three different areas of the front line. 'Russian units have advanced 10 kilometres deep in several spots,' Mr Zelensky said. 'They all have no equipment, only weapons in their hands. Some have already been found, some destroyed, some taken prisoner. We will find the rest and destroy them in the near future.' A map published by Ukrainian battlefield monitor DeepState, which has close ties with Ukraine's military, showed Russia had made a double-pronged advance around 10 kilometres deep in a narrow section of the front line near Dobropillia. Dobropillia, home to around 30,000 people before the war, has come under regular Russian drone attacks. The advance also threatens the largely destroyed town of Kostiantynivka, one of the last large urban areas in the Donetsk region still held by Ukraine. Russian forces have been accelerating their advances for months, pressing their advantage against overstretched Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian army said on Tuesday it was engaged in 'difficult' battles with Russian forces in the east, but denied Russia had a foothold near Dobropillia. 'The situation is difficult and dynamic,' it said in a statement. 'New offensive' The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said Russia was sending small sabotage groups forwards. It said it was 'premature' to call the Russian advances around Dobropillia 'an operational-level breakthrough'. A Ukrainian military group that oversees parts of the front in the Donetsk region also said Russia was probing Ukrainian lines with small sabotage groups, describing battles as 'complex, unpleasant and dynamic'. Mr Trump has described his summit with Mr Putin on Friday as a chance to check the Russian leader's ideas for ending the war. Russia, which invaded Ukraine in 2022, has made costly but incremental gains across the front in recent months and claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions while still fighting to control them. Ukrainian police meanwhile said that Russian attacks in the past hours had killed three people and wounded 12 others, including a child.
ABC News
12 minutes ago
- ABC News
Comedian Maz Jobrani to ramp up Donald Trump jokes, after CBS cancels Stephen Colbert's Late Show
Iranian-American comedy veteran Maz Jobrani believes US President Donald Trump is trying to censor free speech in America, and he intends to hit back. With more jokes, that is. Jobrani's been a long-time guest of Stephen Colbert's top-rating The Late Show, which was axed by CBS last month. He believes the decision to end the show's three-decade run — which began with David Letterman in 1993 — was politically motivated. According to the network's parent company Paramount, Colbert's cancellation was "purely a financial decision", and the US president has denied he had anything to do with the popular show's cancellation. The axing came after Colbert criticised Paramount's controversial $US16 million legal settlement with Mr Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. In the same week CBS announced Colbert's show would be cancelled, Paramount was in the final stages of a multi-billion-dollar merger with Skydance Media. In July, the deal was approved by the Trump administration. In Jobrani's mind, the axing of Colbert's show is no coincidence. "I love Colbert — I get my news from Colbert — he makes the news fun," he told ABC News in a Melbourne interview last month, after landing from Los Angeles for the start of his latest Australian tour. The tour across six Australian cities ended on Sunday, but Jobrani's been coming to Australia since 2008. He says Melbourne, as home of the annual International Comedy Festival, has "good comedy audiences". Colbert has vowed to continue speaking "unvarnished truth to power" and sharing "what I really think about Donald Trump". Jobrani, who also regularly speaks out against Trump in his comedy skits — most commonly against the administration's deportation policies — says he intends to do the same. "I thought Trump would maybe send the IRS out to audit them or something, just make their lives hard, because Trump unfortunately does not have a sense of humour, he doesn't know how to take a joke, which is what dictatorships usually are like." Since CBS announced the axing in June, there's been much talk in the US entertainment and media industry about how far the Trump administration might go in censoring free speech. Jobrani has united with some of the biggest names in entertainment and late-night television to show support for Colbert, and to fight for free speech. "The job of the comedian is to reveal the emperor has no clothes. I think we need to keep doing that — if we don't, we're going lose our democracy," he said. Jobrani has called on others in comedy and the wider entertainment and media industry to stand their ground. "I always say the whole point of America is, I can make fun of the president in America. I couldn't make fun of the president of Iran, that wouldn't work," he said. Jobrani's family left Iran for the US in 1978, when he was six years old. It was just a year before Iran's Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fell to Islamist rulers, and his family, like many others at the time, made the decision to flee. In our interview he talks of how growing up as an Iranian in California at that time was a struggle. But he says it framed the backdrop to much of his comedy, which focuses on the weird and often hilarious events that occur as a child of immigrants. While his parents hoped the UC Berkeley graduate would become a doctor, lawyer, or engineer, he had other plans. And now he's among several Iranian-Americans showcasing Iranian culture on stages around the world, and making audiences laugh with Iranians, instead of at them. This was something Jobrani never envisaged back in November 1979 – when 52 Americans were taken hostage in the US Embassy in Tehran and held for 444 days. "For my entire life in America, I've had to explain Iran … I just try to find funny ways to explain to people what I'm feeling. Like I say, 'I wish I were Swedish' because if you're Swedish, you wouldn't have to explain anything, right? You just talk about IKEA, ABBA. "[Being Iranian] has been a challenge, but it also obviously is giving me plenty of material because I have been able to try and present people from Iran and other people from that part of the world, hopefully in a positive light versus what you see when they show us in the news." Jobrani's career took off in the post 9/11 era. He had first toured with other "brown comedians", including Ahmed Ahmed, Aron Kader and Sam Tripoli, on a show called the Arabian Nights, which was aimed at showcasing the voice of Muslim/Middle Eastern people a year before 9/11 happened. But as they toured under that name, they decided to change the title. At that time, then-US president George Bush had called Iran, Iraq, and North Korea an "Axis of Evil". So the trio settled on "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" as the show's name. Since then, Jobrani has gained worldwide fame and in many ways paved the way for a new generation of comedians from Iranian backgrounds to make it to the world stage. On his Australian tour, Jobrani was joined by another rising star, Iranian-African American comedian Tehran Ghasri. "Comedy is part of the Iranian heritage," Ghasri tells ABC News. Jobrani says when he started out, being a comedian was frowned upon by the Iranian diaspora, including his parents. "I was of the generation where I should have been a doctor, lawyer, engineer, but I fell in love with comedy and performing at a young age," Jobrani explains. He says he was an anomaly when he first started. "Now 20-some-odd years later, there's Tehran and there's Max Amini, and there's Amir K … there's Melissa Shoshahi, and there's Peter the Persian, and there's Omid Djalili — and it really does make me happy to see all of these people in this business now. "Once the next generations realise, 'Oh, you can make a living doing other things' or you should live your life doing what makes you happy, they start doing it. "It's really something that's just great for our community … because until we're telling the stories, no-one's going to tell our stories the way we want to tell them. They're just going to keep making us the bad guy." In recent years Jobrani's played a prominent role in diaspora activism against the Islamic Republic, particularly in the aftermath of the #Women, Life, Freedom protests spurred by the death in custody of Mahsa Jina Amini. "I grew up in America, so I always say that I'm not in Iran, but Iran is in me. I feel an affinity towards the country of Iran. I feel an affinity towards the soccer team when they play," he said. Jobrani says the various waves of massive protests inside Iran, the recent Israel-Iran war, and people's suffering under Iran's regime is "heartbreaking". He points to the forced veiling of women, "discrimination against women, the discrimination against the LGBTQ community, the discrimination against religious minorities like the Baha'i's and others" as examples of that. "I do feel that I want to support the people of Iran, and I do pray and hope for a day where Iran can become a functioning part of the world." Jobrani fears Trump's America is becoming more like Iran's repressive regime. He says comedy can be a unifying force and a way to fight rising anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. "I think that there's people out there that are waiting to pounce" he said. "Hate and hatred, it's easier to go that way and I think that comedy can counter that. "Like when I do a show, I have people from all backgrounds, all religions in the room, we're laughing together and we're humanising each other. What war does is it dehumanises. "You get a room where you have a Palestinian, and you have a Jew, and you have a Muslim — people from different backgrounds and we're laughing together — then people realise, 'Oh, he's human. I'm human.'"
Perth Now
12 minutes ago
- Perth Now
White House threatens Washington homeless with jail
Homeless people in Washington, D.C., could face jail time if they do not comply with President Donald Trump's efforts to crack down on crime and rid the US capital of homeless encampments, the White House says. "Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental-health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time," White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told reporters. Leavitt said the administration was exploring strategies to relocate homeless individuals "far from the capital." She said US Park Police have removed 70 homeless encampments from federal parks since March and are set to clear the remaining two encampments in the city later this week. Andy Wassenich, director of policy at Miriam's Kitchen - an organisation offering services to the homeless - said his team was out trying to warn people. He said there was still a lot of confusion about what the crackdown may bring. Their best advice, he said, was: "Go to shelter if you can, if you can stand it. If you have anybody you can stay with, get off the street, and seek safety and let us know what we can do for you." Trump said on social media that he wanted the homeless out of Washington even before he announced the extraordinary step of temporarily taking over the District of Columbia's police department and deploying 800 National Guard troops as part of a crackdown on crime there - an effort that also includes another 500 federal law enforcement agents. A billionaire real estate developer, Trump described the homeless as one of several groups who have "overtaken" Washington that include "violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs." He likened his intended crackdown to his administration's actions to secure the US border with Mexico. US communities have long experienced seemingly intractable problems with homelessness, which reached an all-time national high of over 771,000 men, women and children on a single night in 2024, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development's latest homelessness report to Congress. The HUD report estimated Washington's homeless population at 5616, a 14.1 per cent increase from the year before. That made Washington, a city of just over 700,000 people, the 16th out of the 20 US cities with the largest homeless populations, according to the website USA Facts. The top five cities are New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle and Denver. But the District of Columbia had the highest prevalence of homelessness among US states, with 83 homeless individuals for every 10,000 people, HUD data showed. with DPA
