Federal Officials Assert Powers to Clean Up Washington, D.C.
Our nation’s Capital should be a place where all Americans can feel safe. It should be the freest, yet most secure land in the world. Even though the Founding Fathers set this area aside as the seat of our government, it has turned into a large city dominated by liberal local politics. For too many decades, Washington, D.C., has been a city plagued by lawlessness. President Trump has a different vision for the District — one in which the Capital is a shining city of peace and prosperity, and his Administration is taking steps to ensure this goal becomes a reality. Positive changes are underway!
Sadly, Washington, D.C. has, in many ways, failed its children and is suffering the consequences. D.C. officials have been so lax on any type of law enforcement that youth are now the ones committing most of the crimes. Last year, juveniles accounted for nearly 52% of robbery cases and 60% of carjackings. Congressional and government staff have been randomly attacked and even killed, in addition to the gang violence in the rougher neighborhoods. In 2023, an off-duty federal officer was carjacked by two juveniles. The officer opened fire, shooting and killing one of the perpetrators, who ended up being a 13-year-old boy who had been arrested previously for the same crime. These instances are tragedies for both the victims and the young offenders.
The D.C. Mayor’s office was given full authority over the district’s schools in 2007. Over the last ten years, truancy has increased 110%. In the last year alone, 16,000 D.C. Public School students — one-third of enrolled students — missed two weeks or more of school without an excuse and were labeled truant. Although the graduation rate has risen over the last decade, from 65% to 76%, it is still 11% below the national average. A 2018 audit of the school system showed that an increase in graduation rates was “entirely attributable to schools systematically not enforcing their own policies.” This could mean ignoring low test scores and absences, allowing students to turn in work late, or simply passing a student through. During that time, only 22% of students from D.C. schools who began college actually earned a degree. Despite these repeated depressing reports and audits, nothing has changed. It’s no coincidence that Mayor Muriel Bowser has been in office during this whole period of time.
Bowser is the typical liberal Mayor. She locked down her city for years during the COVID-19 pandemic and issued mandates on masks and vaccines. During that time, she was also caught partying with friends maskless. She shut down churches under the guise of the pandemic yet turned a blind eye to violent protestors in the streets. She has deemed D.C. a “pro-choice city”, raised the pride flag over City Hall calling it the “gayest city in America”, and had two blocks in front of the White House painted over and renamed to “Black Lives Matter Plaza”. Her affinity for fame and power has destroyed the city she claims to love.
President Trump vowed to clean up the city during his campaign. Mayor Bowser scoffed at this while presenting data that showed a significant decrease in crime over the last couple of years. However, in May, the actions of Metropolitan Police Department commander Michael Pulliam first came to light. Pulliam was put on leave for falsifying crime statistics. The Metropolitan D.C. Police Union says this isn’t uncommon for the whole department. They assert that when D.C. police officers show up to the scene of a crime that would be classified as a felony, they are directed to put a lesser crime into the report.
After two recent tragedies, the murder of a Congressional intern and the attack of a DOGE employee who was trying to protect a carjacking victim, President Trump said, “Enough is enough.” On August 11th, the President declared a crime emergency in the District of Columbia and mobilized the National Guard to establish law and order within the city. He is using the authority given by the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to take control of the D.C. police force for 30 days. The Metropolitan D.C. Police Union has since then posted on X that carjackings are down 83%, robberies are down 46%, and violent crime is down 22% in just the past week.
Even though the President only has a month to complete his actions, Congress can extend this deadline. House Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) has already introduced a resolution to give him the authority until the mission is complete. She stated:
Our resolution is straightforward: if the President determines that continued federal control is necessary to keep D.C. safe, he should have the authority to do so. This is about restoring safety, enforcing the law, and cleaning up the streets of our capital city. We should not tie the President’s hands when the stakes are this high.
Congress is currently in recess, so passage of this resolution will likely be considered in early September.
We thank the members of the National Guard for giving up precious time with their families and breaking away from their day-to-day jobs to restore peace in Washington, D.C. Liberals have frequently accosted them in the streets and interfered with their efforts. A man even assaulted a federal officer with a Subway sandwich. The suspect turned out to be a government employee at the Department of Justice. Thankfully, he is now looking for a new job! Eagle Forum is grateful for the job that the National Guard and federal law enforcement officials are doing to restore order and make our nation’s Capital a safe place to live and work.
This clean-up is timely. Next month, we will hold our annual conference in Washington, D.C. Eagle Council 53 will gather leaders and grassroots activists from across the nation to lobby their lawmakers on issues most important to their families and communities. D.C. is the safest and freest it’s been in a decade. We can once again take pride in our nation’s Capital. To learn more about Eagle Council 53, visit our website here. Make sure you reserve your hotel room by Monday, August 25th!
