President Trump's takeover of local D.C. police is set to expire Wednesday, even as other forms of federal control continue.
On Aug. 11, Trump declared a "crime emergency" in the District of Columbia, using his authority under the 1973 Home Rule Act to activate the D.C. National Guard and take control of the district's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
But the Home Rule Act limits that power, which is meant to be used for emergencies. He can do so for only 30 days, at which point the House and the Senate would need to authorize an extension. Congress has so far not indicated that it plans to do so.
And despite Trump's earlier talk of seeking an extension, he has changed his tune in recent days, praising D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for her cooperation and touting a drop in crime in the city.
"Mayor Muriel Bowser of D.C. has become very popular because she worked with me and my great people in bringing CRIME down to virtually NOTHING in D.C.," Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.
Crime was already on the decline in D.C. since peaking in 2023, but Bowser has credited federal intervention with accelerating that drop, even as she stressed that the presence of immigration agents and National Guard troops — who are not subject to time limits — "is not working."
Bowser issued an order last week to ensure — "during and after the Presidential emergency" — continued cooperation between the city and federal law enforcement. She stressed that it is not an extension of the "Trump emergency" but rather a framework for how to get out of it after Sept. 10.
"I want the message to be clear to the Congress: We have a framework to request or use federal resources in our city," she said at a news conference last Wednesday. "We don't need a presidential emergency."
Congress does not appear interested in extending federal control over the local police. The chairman of the House Oversight Committee, James Comer, is turning his panel's focus this week to a raft of legislation that, he says, would "oversee District affairs and make D.C. safe again."
Here's a look at how D.C. got here and what could happen next.
What did the MPD takeover entail?
The administration's plan to appoint its own "emergency police commissioner" was almost immediately foiled in court, after D.C.'s attorney general filed a lawsuit challenging the administration's bid for full control. D.C.'s police chief, Pamela Smith, remained in charge, while the federal government continued to have oversight over local police.
Shortly after, Smith issued an order allowing MPD officers to share information with immigration agencies about people at traffic stops, as well as provide transportation for agency employees and people they have detained — marking a shift in cooperation.
In the weeks since, local police and federal agencies have set up traffic checkpoints throughout the city and also worked together to detain delivery drivers.
At least 1,669 people have been arrested since the federal surge began on Aug. 7 — and many of those arrests were for immigration-related offenses, as NPR has reported. After combing through court records and other data for the first two weeks of Trump's police takeover, NPR found that of the more than 1,050 defendants whose cases went to D.C. Superior Court, prosecutors charged around 20% with felonies, including drug and gun crimes. The vast majority — 80% — were misdemeanors, warrants, traffic offenses or prosecutors dropping the case.
Trump has repeatedly touted the mission's success, calling D.C. "NOW A CRIME FREE ZONE" and saying crime is down "100 percent."
Data from the Metropolitan Police Department and D.C. Police Union supports officials' claims that crime has dropped since the federal surge — but not to zero.
An MPD report released Tuesday shows that total crime has dropped 15% during the period of Aug. 7 through Sept. 8, compared with the same window last year. Notably, violent crime is down 39% and carjackings by 74% — there have been just 12 since the federal takeover, compared with 47 during the same window in 2024.
In late August, Bowser acknowledged that the Trump administration's intervention has led to a drop in gun crimes, homicides and carjackings but also a "break in trust between police and community, especially with new federal partners."
She said the city doesn't need masked immigration agents and National Guard troops from other states but, rather, more police, prosecutors, judges, prevention programs and local control.
What is Congress considering?
D.C. residents — as well as elected officials — have protested against Trump's actions but acknowledge there is not much they can do to block them since home rule gives the federal government so much power over the district. (Trump's repeated threats to send states' National Guards into cities like Chicago and Baltimore, without the consent of their governors, are more legally dubious.)
The past month has renewed conversations about home rule, which many Democrats believe should be strengthened.
In August, Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Eleanor Holmes Norton — D.C.'s nonvoting delegate to the House — reintroduced legislation that would grant D.C. full control over its police and National Guard.
But many Republicans say the opposite: Two Republican lawmakers introduced bills this year to repeal home rule, while Trump said in August that "we're going to look at that."
In the House, the Oversight Committee is due to consider 14 bills this week that would exert more control over D.C., in particular its criminal justice system.
Among them are proposals to prohibit "the D.C. Council from pursuing progressive soft-on-crime sentencing policy," lower the age of eligibility for juveniles to be tried as adults and change mandatory minimum sentences. Another would impose a fine of up to $500 or up to 30 days imprisonment as a penalty for camping outdoors on public property.
Republican leaders have not said which bills will get a vote in the full House or when that might occur. Republicans hold a slim majority in the House and would need near-unanimous support for the measures to advance. If they are successful, the legislation would go to the Senate, where Democrats could block the legislation using the filibuster.
"Republicans in Congress may have the ability to impose their will on D.C., but I will not make it easy for them," Norton said. "These bills are yet further evidence of why we need D.C. statehood."
Copyright 2025 NPR
