WASHINGTON, D.C. - On Thursday, March 27th, President Donald Trump signed a new executive order targeting D.C., aiming to target crime, immigration, and graffiti.
According to FOX5, the order establishes the "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force," which is being established to address several crime-related issues that the Trump administration has noted as a priority. The order will also create a beautification program for the District. The Trump administration said the task force will be made up of leaders with several key government agencies.
Those leaders have yet to be named on the White House website. The areas of crime the task force is expected to address include demonstrations, vandalism, and public intoxication in public spaces, immigration enforcement, strengthening pre-trail detention policies, expediting concealed-carry licenses for gun owners, and cracking down on fare evasion and crime on the Metro.
WMATA announced that the Metro Transit Police are working to ban serial offenders from its buses and trains. Officials said that overall crime in the Metro system is at a seven-year low, but that they have adopted a so-called "banning policy" that would apply to repeat offenders for sex crimes and assaults on customers and employees on trains, buses, at rail stations, and in Metro parking lots.
Trump's order says that the administration will also create a program to restore and clean graffiti from federal buildings, monuments, statues, memorials, parks, and roadways. It also directs the National Park Service to "rapidly" clear all homeless encampments and clean up graffiti on federal land.
A few weeks back, Trump threatened D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, saying that "she must clean up all the unsightly homeless encampments in the city" or the federal government would step in. Those comments were also made after Trump reportedly told reporters aboard Air Force One that he supports a "federal takeover" of D.C.
In February, Trump said that the federal government should "take over" D.C. as he complained about crime and homelessness in the District. He said that the federal government would "make it safe." He said, "I think we should take over Washington, D.C. I think that we should govern District of Columbia."
Under the terms of the city's Home Rule authority, Congress already controls D.C. laws and has the power to overturn them, but some congressional Republicans have sought to go further, putting the city back under direct federal control, as it was at the time of its founding.
Trump has said that he likes Bowser personally, but continues to complain about the city's governance. He said, "They're not doing the job. Too much crime, too much — too many tents on the laws, these magnificent lawns."
The Executive Order also states that the administration will help D.C.'s forensic crime laboratory get accreditation, provide assistance to the D.C. Police Department in recruiting and retaining officers, and boosting capabilities of those officers. In its fact sheet from March 27th, the White House said that "Americans deserve a better capital than today's Washington."
Trump's administration said that the president is following through on his promise to restore Washington, D.C. to glory by making the nation's capital safe and beautiful once again. On his first day back in office, Trump lamented "the filth and the decay" that married the nation's capital in his absence.
President Trump later promised that his administration would "take over the horribly run capital of our nation, Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, but rather it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world."
According to FOX5, the order establishes the "D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force," which is being established to address several crime-related issues that the Trump administration has noted as a priority. The order will also create a beautification program for the District. The Trump administration said the task force will be made up of leaders with several key government agencies.
Those leaders have yet to be named on the White House website. The areas of crime the task force is expected to address include demonstrations, vandalism, and public intoxication in public spaces, immigration enforcement, strengthening pre-trail detention policies, expediting concealed-carry licenses for gun owners, and cracking down on fare evasion and crime on the Metro.
WMATA announced that the Metro Transit Police are working to ban serial offenders from its buses and trains. Officials said that overall crime in the Metro system is at a seven-year low, but that they have adopted a so-called "banning policy" that would apply to repeat offenders for sex crimes and assaults on customers and employees on trains, buses, at rail stations, and in Metro parking lots.
Trump's order says that the administration will also create a program to restore and clean graffiti from federal buildings, monuments, statues, memorials, parks, and roadways. It also directs the National Park Service to "rapidly" clear all homeless encampments and clean up graffiti on federal land.
A few weeks back, Trump threatened D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, saying that "she must clean up all the unsightly homeless encampments in the city" or the federal government would step in. Those comments were also made after Trump reportedly told reporters aboard Air Force One that he supports a "federal takeover" of D.C.
In February, Trump said that the federal government should "take over" D.C. as he complained about crime and homelessness in the District. He said that the federal government would "make it safe." He said, "I think we should take over Washington, D.C. I think that we should govern District of Columbia."
Under the terms of the city's Home Rule authority, Congress already controls D.C. laws and has the power to overturn them, but some congressional Republicans have sought to go further, putting the city back under direct federal control, as it was at the time of its founding.
Trump has said that he likes Bowser personally, but continues to complain about the city's governance. He said, "They're not doing the job. Too much crime, too much — too many tents on the laws, these magnificent lawns."
The Executive Order also states that the administration will help D.C.'s forensic crime laboratory get accreditation, provide assistance to the D.C. Police Department in recruiting and retaining officers, and boosting capabilities of those officers. In its fact sheet from March 27th, the White House said that "Americans deserve a better capital than today's Washington."
Trump's administration said that the president is following through on his promise to restore Washington, D.C. to glory by making the nation's capital safe and beautiful once again. On his first day back in office, Trump lamented "the filth and the decay" that married the nation's capital in his absence.
President Trump later promised that his administration would "take over the horribly run capital of our nation, Washington, D.C., and clean it up, renovate it, and rebuild our capital city so that it is no longer a nightmare of murder and crime, but rather it will become the most beautiful capital anywhere in the world."
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Comments
2 days ago | Comment by: Paul
I've often wondered- In a cities of hundreds of thousands/millions, how do you keep people from getting on public transport?