Ranking Member Raskin, Congresswoman Norton, Ranking Member Garcia, and Senator Van Hollen Introduce Legislation Terminating Trump’s Unprecedented Federalization of D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department
Washington, D.C. (August 15, 2025)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Rep. Robert Garcia, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, introduced a joint resolution terminating President Donald Trump’s unprecedented federalization of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) in Washington, D.C., pursuant to the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973. Senator Chris Van Hollen will introduce the joint resolution in the Senate.
The legislation would terminate the President’s unlawful federalization of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. In an effort to justify his outrageous move to federalize local police and militarize the streets of D.C., the President has concocted a false narrative around the city’s crime rates, which have been in decline for two years and just reached a 30-year low. While the President claims there is some sort of crime emergency in D.C., he seems to be more preoccupied with the state of grass in D.C. parks and medians and selecting honorees for the Kennedy Center. And while Trump claims that federal control of D.C. is necessary to combat crime, the President’s own actions are what is jeopardizing public safety in the District. He and his allies in Congress refuse to allow the District to access the $1 billion in locally-raised revenue that would have funded D.C. police, fire and emergency response services, and other public safety efforts. He fired and demoted dozens of D.C.’s most experienced career prosecutors, contributing to a larger backlog of criminal cases being held up in court and longer wait times for crime victims to obtain justice. Trump pardoned nearly 1,600 individuals who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, including hundreds convicted of assaulting police officers.
“The only emergency here is a lawless president experiencing a growing public relations emergency because of his close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein and his stubborn refusal to release the Epstein file despite his promise to do so,” said Ranking Member Raskin.“Trump has made clear that his efforts in D.C., where 700,000 taxpaying American citizens lack the protections of statehood, are part of a broader plan to militarize and federalize the streets of cities around America whose citizens voted against him. The legislation we are introducing today would stop this campaign by ending Trump’s hostile takeover of D.C.’s police force. Under the D.C. Home Rule Act, Congress has given the president the power only to direct the Mayor to make the Metropolitan Police Department available for a specific federal purpose but has given him no power simply to take over the Department. In any event, there is no federal emergency justifying such a takeover even if Congress sought to use its lawmaking power to effectuate it.”
“President Trump’s incursions against D.C. are among the most egregious attacks on D.C. home rule in decades. D.C. residents are Americans, worthy of the same autonomy granted to residents of the states. Our local police force, paid for by D.C. residents, should not be subject to federalization, an action that wouldn’t be possible for any other police department in the country. No emergency exists in D.C. that the president did not create himself, and he is not using the D.C. Police for federal purposes, as required by law,” said Congresswoman Norton. “I appreciate Ranking Member Raskin’s enduring support for D.C. and for working with me to end this unprecedented, dangerous, and disgraceful violation of D.C.’s right to govern its own local affairs.”
“Once again, President Trump is making every effort to distract America from Epstein. Republicans aren’t serious about public safety in D.C. If they were, they would not be blocking the city from using $1 billion of its own money, including funding meant to support the city’s law enforcement efforts,” said Ranking Member Garcia. “Today’s bill would end President Trump’s so-called ‘crime emergency’ and allow the 700,000 residents of D.C. to set their home’s public safety priorities.”
“Trump was AWOL when the District of Columbia actually needed support from the National Guard to protect it from an insurrectionist mob on January 6th. His current takeover is an abuse of power and nothing more than a raw power grab. It is a direct attack on the ability of the people of the District of Columbia to govern their own affairs. The District of Columbia has made important progress on public safety in recent years, and can do more if Trump and House Republicans get the hell out of their way and stop blocking D.C. from accessing $1 billion of its own funds to strengthen policing and provide other public services,” said Senator Van Hollen.
On Monday, President Trump issued an Executive Order titled “Declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia,” in order to take control of the city’s police department.
Under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, Congress can terminate the President’s emergency control of MPD with a joint resolution.
In their resolution, the Members cited that President Trump has failed to identify any special conditions of an emergency nature that require the federalization of the MPD even for a specific purpose. Indeed, violent crime in D.C. has been decreasing for the past two years, reaching a 30-year low.
Click here to read the resolution.