One Year Later, President Trump’s D.C. Crime Crackdown Is an Undeniable Success

It has been one year since President Trump deployed the National Guard to the nation’s capital, vowing to make the city beautiful again. Despite complaints from the left over the move’s constitutionality, the results quickly became undeniable: Washington went its longest period without a single murder, while carjackings and other crimes saw an almost immediate decline. 

Now, a year later, that pattern has not changed. 

Over the past year, the National Guard, working alongside federal, state, and local law enforcement, has helped arrest more than 16,000 criminals. Authorities have confiscated nearly 2,000 illegal firearms and located 25 missing children, returning them safely home.

One year ago today, President Trump declared a crime emergency and unleashed the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force.

The results are remarkable:

✅Over 16,000 arrests
✅Over 3,200 drug-related arrests
✅Nearly 2,000 illegal firearms seizedhttps://t.co/iqTEYAAQTz pic.twitter.com/TclGhbRIT1

— Liz Huston (@LizHuston33) August 10, 2026

Since August 2025, reported crime has fallen by about 20 percent across Washington, D.C. Homicides dropped by roughly 31 percent, motor-vehicle theft fell 53 percent, thefts from automobiles declined 37 percent, and overall property crime decreased by around 21 percent.

“When law enforcement works together, the impact is exponential,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces Serralta said. “The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is proof that the whole-of-government approach works.”

President Trump himself also highlighted the progress made throughout the nation’s capital, revealing that 2 percent of the city’s population had been responsible for 90 percent of its crime. But the effort has extended beyond public safety. His administration has also focused on making Washington beautiful again, repairing monuments, cleaning up graffiti, and restoring the city’s appearance as the capital of the greatest country on earth.

.@POTUS: "We removed, in Washington, as an example, almost 5,000 career criminals... it's a clean city, it's beautiful. The monuments are beautiful—they're sparkling." pic.twitter.com/1n7wUS190i

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 11, 2026

"We moved 5,000 people out," the president said. "So remember, we had career criminals and hardened criminals and people that were allowed into our country by Biden. And, you know, the open border disaster where anybody, they didn't do any check. They didn't do anything having to do with, let me see your papers, just people coming in from all over the world, from the Congo, from South America, from all over the world. They were pouring in, just totally unchecked, unvetted. And we removed in Washington, as an example, almost 5,000 career criminals or bad people. Let's say bad people, but many career criminals, many murderers. And some of them were so bad, we had to put them in jails because we thought they'd come back."

"So we did that. And, you know, and you've heard me say this, 2 percent of the people cause 91 percent of the crime," he continued. "And when you hear that, it's a great stat for us because we can handle 2 percent. Now, if it was 90 percent, of course, 90 percent, we have a problem, right? But 2 percent, we got rid of the really bad ones of career criminals and murderers and took them off the streets."

"And the other thing, it's a clean city. It's beautiful," he added. "The monuments are beautiful. They're sparkling. You know, we turned on 38 fountains that were turned off for years, for decades. They were graffiti ridden, weeds growing into them. And they're all operating now. It's been an amazing miracle. We're changing the grass in the parks. You know, people laugh, oh, he's changing the grass. Like it's, that's a big deal. It's a big deal. The grass, you know, grass has lives just like people have lives. And this grass has been there for like 50, 60 years. And we are, we're doing a job. This place looks so beautiful."

Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.

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