Fact Sheets

# Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Works to Make Our Nation’s Capital Safe and Beautiful

The White House
March 27, 2025

MAKING WASHINGTON THE GREATEST CAPITAL CITY IN THE WORLD: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to make Washington, D.C. what it should be—the pride of every American to whom it belongs.

- The Executive Order establishes a task force, officially known as the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, that will be comprised of members of key government agencies.
- The task force is directed to:
  - Surge law enforcement officers in public areas and strictly enforce quality-of-life laws in public areas like drug use, unpermitted demonstrations, vandalism, and public intoxication.
  - Maximize immigration enforcement to apprehend and deport dangerous illegal aliens, including monitoring D.C.’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
  - 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.
  - Keep dangerous criminals off the streets by strengthening pre-trial detention policies.
  - Expedite concealed carry licenses for law-abiding citizens.
  - Crack down on fare evasion and other crimes on the D.C. Metro system.
- The Executive Order will also create a program to beautify Washington, D.C.:
  - This includes restoring and beautifying Federal buildings, monuments, statues, memorials, parks, and roadways, removing graffiti from commonly visited areas, and ensuring the cleanliness of public spaces and parks.
  - The National Park Service will rapidly clear all homeless encampments and graffiti on federal lands.

AMERICANS DESERVE A BETTER CAPITAL THAN TODAY’S WASHINGTON: Our nation’s capital, the only city that belongs to all of us, must be a symbol of pride for the American people and a safe location for public servants to do the people’s work. Today, because of failed policies, it’s not.

- Crime is near historic highs, yet D.C. police force numbers recently reached a half-century low.
  - The left is touting modest decreases in D.C. crime in 2024, but they still represent a massive increase from earlier rates. In 2023, violent crime rose by 39 percent. Property crime rose by 24 percent.
  - This mirrors the spin they tried to put on “decreases” in the rate of inflation in recent years. Inflation is still up—and so is crime. And Americans are smart enough to notice.
  - For example, 2023 saw the highest number of homicides in the District since 1997.
  - The D.C. Metro Police Department needs at least 4,000 officers, yet has fewer than 3,500.
- D.C.’s failed policies opened the door to disorder—and criminals noticed. Washington, DC:
  - Abandoned traditional pre-trial detention and effectively replaced it with ‘catch-and-release.’
  - Decriminalized marijuana.
  - Lets rioters run loose even if they vandalize property and assault police.
- In 2022, the Biden U.S. Attorney for D.C. declined to prosecute 67% of arrested people who would have been tried in D.C. Superior Court.
- The vacuum in law enforcement has created an environment that facilitates crime and blight, encourages homeless and vagrancy encampments, and jeopardizes public safety.
- The D.C. crime lab remains partially unaccredited, creating a bottleneck for investigations. Federal authorities will assist with capacity so forensic work can resume and accreditation can be regained.

PRESIDENT TRUMP KEEPS HIS PROMISES: President Trump 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 President Trump’s first return to Washington since leaving office in 2021, he lamented “the filth and the decay” that marred 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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