President Donald Trump’s 30-day emergency takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force is set to expire Wednesday night, returning full operational control of the Metropolitan Police Department to Chief Pamela Smith on Thursday, even as federal troops and the D.C. National Guard remain in the city.
The White House invoked a provision of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973 one month ago to place the local police under federal control. That law limits a presidential federalization of the D.C. police to 30 days unless Congress acts to extend it, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that lawmakers have no current plans to do so. "No one’s calling on Congress yet," Johnson said, citing what he described as Mayor Muriel Bowser’s continued cooperation and her "indefinite welcome mat" for the National Guard.
Mayor Bowser last week issued an order calling for ongoing collaboration between local and federal law enforcement officials "to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District," a directive that carries no expiration date. Administration officials argue that a formal agreement between the White House and city leaders could reduce the need for congressional action, but the statute that authorized the temporary takeover nevertheless lapses at the 30-day mark.
Even as federal control of the D.C. police ends, the Army has instructed the D.C. National Guard to remain in the city through the end of November. Brig. Gen. Leland D. Blanchard II, who oversees the Guard in Washington, posted on social media that "our mission is not complete" and said he had extended the encampment to continue ensuring public safety on city streets. The Army order applies only to the D.C. Guard; National Guard members sent from other states remain subject to orders from their respective governors.
The house Committee on Oversight and Government Reform scheduled a Wednesday hearing on several bills that would increase federal authority over the District. Proposals include legislation to codify elements of an executive order issued by the president earlier this year that would create a "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Commission" to coordinate federal and regional enforcement priorities, lower the age at which juveniles can be prosecuted as adults from 16 to 14, and permit the president to appoint the city’s attorney general.
D.C. officials have mounted legal and political opposition to the federal deployments. The District sued the administration last week, calling the presence of more than 2,000 federal troops a "military occupation" and arguing that deploying the National Guard for law-enforcement duties is "unnecessary and unwanted." D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said the deployments were "dangerous and harmful to the District and its residents." A separate federal judge earlier this year ruled that the deployment of federal troops to Los Angeles in response to protests crossed legal lines when servicemembers were used in civil law-enforcement roles. Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court in San Francisco found those actions unlawful and said the violations appeared to stem from "systematic and willful orders to troops to execute domestic law."
The Washington deployments are part of a broader federal push by the administration to threaten or send federal forces to cities the president has identified as struggling with crime and immigration. The president suggested last month that Chicago could be next, prompting the Department of Homeland Security to announce an immigration enforcement effort in the city called Operation Midway Blitz and to launch similar operations in Massachusetts. Officials in Chicago and elsewhere, however, noted that the full-scale law-enforcement crackdowns the White House has described have yet to materialize.
Crime in many U.S. cities rose during the COVID-19 pandemic but has declined in recent years, according to municipal and federal crime data. The disputes over the use of federal troops and expanded executive authority in the District, and the parallel legal challenges, are likely to shape the national debate over federal intervention in local policing and immigration enforcement in the weeks ahead.
With the statutory window for federal control closed, Chief Pamela Smith will reassume command of the Metropolitan Police Department, but the continued presence of the D.C. National Guard and pending congressional proposals mean the nature and extent of federal involvement in the capital remains unsettled.