In a bold move against rising urban violence, President Donald Trump took control of Washington, D.C.'s police force, leading to an unprecedented drop in homicides that saved lives in the city's most vulnerable communities.
Fox News reported that Trump's decision to federalize the department on Aug. 11, 2025, and deploy National Guard troops alongside federal agents for arrests and sweeps resulted in no murders from the afternoon of Aug. 13 through early Aug. 26.
The data from the crackdown showed that it disproportionately protected Black Americans, who make up the vast majority of victims, amid pushback from some Democratic leaders labeling similar ideas as overreach.
The operation kicked off under a provision allowing emergency presidential oversight for 30 days, targeting outstanding warrants, unauthorized firearms, drugs, and other offenses.
By Sept. 5, authorities had made 1,914 arrests, including those involving unauthorized migrants and other violators.
This surge in enforcement coincided with the homicide-free period, which ended when a 31-year-old man was shot on Aug. 26.
Crime expert John Lott calculated a mere 0.37% chance of such a streak happening randomly, based on the city's earlier 2025 rates.
Lott's review noted that Black individuals represented 96% of homicide victims in D.C. from 2019 to 2021.
Thus, the pause in killings "would have invariably been very heavily Black," Lott said, pointing out that "those lives, you have Blacks who didn't die, who otherwise would have died."
Yet some critics overlook this, as Lott asked, "You have others that are there that are going out and claiming that Trump's policies are racist. Who are the victims of these crimes?"—a fair question when policies save those most at risk.
The August achievement stands out against a prior 16-day zero-homicide span from late February to mid-March, a cooler period when crimes typically dip.
Summer usually sees spikes in violence due to more outdoor activity and longer days, making the hot-month success even more notable.
Without monthly historical data from D.C., Lott explained that using full-year or partial-year averages understates the significance, as "including unusually low months such as February and March... artificially lowers those figures compared to the August period we are examining."
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson dismissed incarceration as a solution, calling it "racist" and "immoral," while arguing, "We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence; we’ve already tried that, and we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence."
But such views sidestep the human cost, as safer streets prevent tragedies rather than just debating ethics—after all, fewer crimes mean fewer victims, regardless of philosophy.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker echoed resistance to National Guard aid for Chicago, warning it was a "dangerous power-grab" and that "Donald Trump wants to use the military to occupy a U.S. city to punish its dissidents and score political points."
Pritzker added, "The president of the United States is doing this for theatrics," claiming no real need existed—but results in D.C. suggest otherwise, where action curbed violence that rhetoric alone couldn't.
Chicago, with its 2024 homicide rate of 17.4 per 100,000 and 573 murders, outpaces Memphis's 40.6 rate but lower total of 242, prompting Lott to note, "Should you look at the murder rate or the number of lives to be saved?"
Saving more lives where numbers are higher makes practical sense, especially in cities plagued by summer shootings.
Beyond direct safety, the D.C. effort promises relief for poorer residents hit by store closures from unchecked crime.
As Lott observed, "Anybody who goes to a CVS or Walgreens knows everything's behind plexiglass there," where shoppers "have to wait for a clerk to come over, unlock the things for you and then stand next to you while you read the packages."
These hassles drive up costs, leading to higher prices or lost jobs, as Lott continued, "The jobs that people had for working in those stores are lost," and "the poor people have to spend more of their money to go and buy anything there."
