Trump goes after crime, illegal migrants in US capital with task force
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US President Donald Trump has vowed to "beautify" the city during his second term.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on March 27 to create a task force for Washington, DC, aimed at tackling crime and illegal immigration – a sweeping action targeting a city he has long derided as violent, rundown and disorderly.
The order says its goal is to “make the District of Columbia safe, beautiful and prosperous by preventing crime, punishing criminals, preserving order, protecting our revered American monuments, and promoting beautification and the preservation of our history and heritage”.
The DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force will include members of Mr Trump’s administration and coordinate efforts with local law enforcement agencies to ensure that municipal officials carry out the President’s priorities on crime and immigration.
According to the order, the task force will monitor the city’s “sanctuary-city status” and see to it that Washington enforces federal immigration laws, including redirecting resources to apprehend and deport undocumented migrants.
It will work to deploy a “more robust” federal law enforcement presence in the city. And it also seeks to target fare evasion and other crimes on the local public transit system.
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Mr Trump cast US cities as beset by crime, and his criticism often signalled out the nation’s capital, which he painted as dangerous and marred by graffiti, vandalism and homelessness.
Mr Trump has vowed to beautify the city during his second term, even as his administration moves to slash the federal government’s workforce and examines moving some agencies out of the capital – initiatives that risk undercutting the region’s economy.
The city’s mayor, Ms Muriel Bowser, had sought to defuse Mr Trump’s threats to take over Washington, moving during his second term to clear homeless encampments and removing a memorial to the Black Lives Matter movement near the White House.
Ms Bowser had met Mr Trump after the election and expressed optimism that she could work with the President.
DC is a heavily Democratic city that voted for Mr Trump’s opponents in all three of his presidential runs and has regularly been a target of Republicans over its liberal policies.
The order signed on March 27 aims to provide assistance to facilitate the prompt accreditation of the city’s forensic crime laboratory.
It will also help the Metropolitan Police Department with recruitment and retention of officers, and review policies on seeking pretrial detention of criminal defendants to ensure that “individuals who pose a genuine threat to public safety are detained to the maximum extent permitted by law.”
The text also says the task force will aim to provide help to more quickly process and lower the cost of concealed carry licence requests in the city. The move runs counter to many of the city’s own efforts to reduce firearm possession and prevent gun violence, a key priority for Washington’s Democratic leaders.
Mr Trump’s order calls for members of his Cabinet to coordinate with local officials to implement a “programme to beautify” the city, which will include a “coordinated” plan for public monuments, facilities, land, parks and roadways in and around the district.
It will also seek to restore public monuments, memorials and other such landmarks that have been “damaged or defaced, or inappropriately removed or changed” in recent years.
It also calls for the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to issue a directive for the National Park Service to remove and clean up homeless encampments and graffiti on lands within their jurisdiction. BLOOMBERG
