President Donald Trump has authorized the deployment of up to 120 FBI agents to Washington D.C. streets to assist local law enforcement in combating violent crime and carjackings, according to reporting from the Washington Post.
The move reassigns agents from counterintelligence and public corruption divisions to overnight patrol shifts alongside D.C. police.
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email on Sunday for comment.
Why It Matters
This federal intervention represents an extraordinary assertion of executive power over local law enforcement in Washington D.C., potentially setting a precedent for federal involvement in municipal policing.
Because Washington is a federal district rather than a state, it falls under congressional authority, meaning any presidential attempt to take over the city raises serious constitutional, legal, and political concerns.
The deployment diverts FBI resources from their traditional investigative roles while Trump’s expanded crackdown on homelessness could further undermine D.C.’s limited self-governance and establish precedent for federal authority overriding local decision-making.
What To Know
The FBI agents, primarily from the Washington Field Office, will work overnight shifts for at least one week supporting D.C. police during traffic stops and patrols, two sources familiar with the matter told the Washington Post. Unlike typical federal law enforcement street patrols handled by U.S. Park Police and Secret Service, these FBI agents lack standard training for traffic stops and street-level encounters.
Trump’s escalated approach now targets both crime and homelessness through the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force” established in March. The task force coordinates federal agencies to enforce quality-of-life laws, clear homeless encampments on federal land, support local police recruitment, strengthen pretrial detention policies, and restore federal monuments and public spaces. The National Park Service has already increased removals of homeless encampments as part of this broader federal effort.
Current D.C. crime data contradicts Trump’s characterization of rampant violence. Violent crime has dropped 26 percent compared to the same period in 2024, with homicides down 12 percent and carjackings down 37 percent. Juvenile arrests have decreased nearly 20 percent, though approximately 200 charges involve violent crimes.
The Trump administration has not consulted with D.C. police leadership on optimal deployment strategies for these federal resources, according to senior department officials. The operation extends beyond FBI deployment, with the Secret Service and U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division also receiving orders to launch special patrols throughout the district.
What People Are Saying
President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Sunday: “The Press Conference on Crime and “Beautification” will be held tomorrow, at 10:00 A.M. EST, in the Press Briefing Room, and it will not only involve ending the Crime, Murder, and Death in our Nation’s Capital, but will also be about Cleanliness and the General Physical Renovation and Condition of our once beautiful and well maintained Capital. We are not going to allow people to spend $3.1 Billion Dollars on fixing up a building, like the Federal Reserve, which could have been done in a far more elegant and time sensitive manner for $50 to $100 Million Dollars. The Renovation would have actually been better, and we would have saved $3 Billion Dollars, Traffic Jams, and never-ending Construction.”
He continued: “The Mayor of D.C., Muriel Bowser, is a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances, and the Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive. The American Public is not going to put up with it any longer. Just like I took care of the Border, where you had ZERO Illegals coming across last month, from millions the year before, I will take care of our cherished Capital, and we will make it, truly, GREAT AGAIN! Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again. Thank you for your attention to this matter — See you tomorrow at 10 A.M.!”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said: “President Trump is committed to making our nation’s capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world.”
Jeanine Pirro U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, targeted youth crime on Thursday, telling reporters: “We’re seeing far too much crime being committed by young people—14, 15, 16, 17 years old—that I can’t get my hands on…I don’t know if you’ve seen some of these pictures. But young people are coddled, and they don’t need to be coddled anymore. They need to be held accountable…They need to understand that enough is enough.”
What Happens Next?
Trump’s Monday morning news conference will likely provide additional details about the expanded federal strategy targeting both crime and homelessness.
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