He has highlighted crime in Chicago, New York Metropolis, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Baltimore.
Whereas federalizing the native police and deploying the Nationwide Guard in Washington, D.C., President Donald Trump has prompt he might flex his authority to battle violent crime elsewhere.
“We have other cities also that are bad, very bad,” the president mentioned throughout an Aug. 11 press convention.
He listed Chicago, New York Metropolis, Los Angeles, Oakland, and Baltimore among the many cities of concern.
Though murder and different violent crimes have just lately dipped throughout America, the numbers from large cities are nonetheless excessive—in some circumstances, larger than they have been earlier than surges one to 20 years in the past.
Trump’s energy to deploy the Nationwide Guard exterior the nation’s capital can be underneath debate. A federal decide is deciding whether or not his deployment of troops to Los Angeles was lawful.
Here’s what you must know.
The President’s Powers
Trump federalized D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Division after declaring a criminal offense emergency.
He did so underneath Part 740 of the District of Columbia House Rule Act, which lets him management the district’s police for as much as 30 days with out Congressional authorization.
He desires Congress to increase that energy, suggesting a nationwide emergency declaration could possibly be a way of sidestepping the legislature if it doesn’t act.
There isn’t any equal to the D.C. House Rule Act within the different large cities Trump named. There, state and native authorities have management over regulation enforcement.
The Nationwide Guard is a trickier query.
U.S. District Choose Charles Breyer is assessing whether or not Trump’s deployment of Nationwide Guard troops to Los Angeles and close by municipalities violated the Posse Comitatus Act (PCA).
In Washington, the president has deployed the District of Columbia Nationwide Guard, which is underneath clear presidential management.
He did so whereas retaining them underneath Title 32 responsibility standing. That shields the president from allegations of violating the PCA. It additionally leaves them underneath native authority as they again up the police who’re making arrests.
Trump highlighted different doable options involving Congress, which is at the moment in its August recess.
“We’ll count on the Republicans in Congress and the Senate to vote” to finish no-cash bail, he mentioned, referencing a authorized actuality in lots of cities and states which have drawn his ire.
Illinois, Chicago’s dwelling state, eradicated money bail in 2023. Los Angeles County did so too for nearly all offenses. New York State made the same change in 2019.
“Maybe they’ll self-clean up, and maybe they’ll self-do this and get rid of the cashless bail thing and all of the things that caused this problem,” Trump mentioned.
Chicago
Though his native authority exterior Washington could also be restricted, Trump has floated interventions in opposition to crime exterior the capital.
The Second Metropolis appears to be first in his thoughts.
“If we need to, we’re going to do the same thing in Chicago,” he mentioned throughout his Aug. 11 press convention.
The Chicago Police Division recorded 573 homicides in 2024, greater than some other U.S. metropolis. That’s down from 620 in 2023.
Shootings and the variety of taking pictures victims additionally fell, although each nonetheless numbered within the hundreds. Vehicular hijackings have declined, too.
There have been 188 homicides through the first half of 2025, marking a 32 p.c lower from the identical interval in 2024.
Chicago’s murder fee stood at greater than 21 per 100,000 in 2024.
That murder fee, although excessive, has trended down from even larger charges through the Nineties.
But, charges have been decrease than as we speak through the 2000s and early 2010s, in accordance with an evaluation from the College of Chicago Crime Lab.
An Illinois Coverage Institute evaluation discovered that the arrest fee for homicides has additionally fallen, declining from 42 p.c a decade in the past to 27 p.c from June 2024 by way of June 2025.
New York Metropolis
“I’m going to look at New York in a little while,” Trump mentioned.
Although charges and numbers differ, New York Metropolis’s violent crime tendencies resemble Chicago’s.
Homicides and different severe felonies have just lately trended down, however, in some circumstances, stay larger than they have been 10 or 15 years in the past.
In 2024, for instance, there have been 382 murders and non-negligible manslaughters within the Massive Apple, in accordance with metropolis knowledge on crime complaints.
That’s under a latest peak in 2021, which noticed 488 such circumstances, and properly under a lot larger totals a long time in the past, like in 2000, when there have been 673 murders and non-negligible manslaughters.
But, 2024’s determine tops the numbers for 2013 by way of 2019, the beginning of Invoice de Blasio’s mayoralty. These totals dipped as little as 292 in 2017 earlier than surging to the latest 488-murder peak throughout his final yr in workplace.
As of Aug. 10, the New York Police Division had recorded 188 murders in 2025—down 23.6 p.c from the identical interval in 2024. Robberies and felonious assaults have been additionally down relative to the identical interval, whereas rape was up 21.6 p.c.
In 2024, there have been 29,461 felonious assaults within the metropolis, up from latest years and from troughs as little as 16,284 in 2008. Rape was additionally up, with 1,748 incidents that yr as in comparison with 1,455 in 2023.
Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Oakland
“Hopefully L.A. is watching,” Trump mentioned throughout his press convention.
He additionally referenced one other California metropolis, Oakland, and close by Baltimore, saying the 2 are “so far gone.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation knowledge present 264 homicides in Los Angeles in 2024. That’s down from 327 in 2023 as reported by the Los Angeles Police Division.
In 2013, there have been 251 murders within the metropolis.
Los Angeles recorded a significant decline in murders through the first half of 2025. Mayor Karen Bass touted a development that implies numbers might hit lows in 2025 not seen in 60 years.
In 2024, Oakland witnessed 81 murders and non-negligent manslaughters, in accordance with FBI knowledge. The town noticed 120 murders in 2023 as recorded by the Oakland Police Division in its end-of-year report.
The 2024 determine is similar to lows from the late Nineties and early 2000s, as recorded in an evaluation from the College of California, Berkeley College of Regulation. In the course of the early Nineties, Oakland commonly had greater than 140 homicides.
In the course of the first half of 2025, Oakland recorded a 21 p.c decline in homicides relative to the primary half of 2024.
Baltimore noticed 201 homicides in 2024, down from 260 in 2023, in accordance with the Baltimore Police Division. Final yr’s whole is on par with numbers from a decade in the past.
The 2024 numbers give it a murder fee of greater than 35 per 100,000, making it considered one of America’s deadliest massive cities.
Attraction Metropolis’s midyear report in 2025 recorded 68 homicides, down from 88 over the identical interval in 2024.
In case you discovered this text attention-grabbing, please take into account supporting conventional journalism
Our first version was revealed 25 years in the past from a basement in Atlanta. In the present day, The Epoch Instances brings fact-based, award-winning journalism to hundreds of thousands of Individuals.
Our journalists have been threatened, arrested, and assaulted, however our dedication to unbiased journalism has by no means wavered. This yr marks our twenty fifth yr of unbiased reporting, free from company and political affect.
That’s why you’re invited to a limited-time introductory provide — simply $1 per week — so you possibly can be a part of hundreds of thousands already celebrating unbiased information.
