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 instructed he might flex his authority to battle violent crime elsewhere.
“Now we have different cities additionally which are unhealthy, very unhealthy,” the president said 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 not too long ago dipped throughout America, the numbers from large cities are nonetheless excessive—in some circumstances, increased than they have been earlier than surges one to 20 years in the past.
Trump’s energy to deploy the Nationwide Guard outdoors 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 need to know.
The President’s Powers
Trump federalized D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Division after declaring against the law 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 may very well 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 legislation enforcement.
The Nationwide Guard is a trickier query.
U.S. District Decide 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 maintaining them underneath Title 32 obligation 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 present in its August recess.
“We’ll rely on the Republicans in Congress and the Senate to vote” to finish no-cash bail, he stated, 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.
“Possibly they’ll self-clean up, and perhaps they’ll self-do this and eliminate the cashless bail factor and all the issues that brought about this drawback,” Trump stated.
Chicago
Though his native authority outdoors Washington could also be restricted, Trump has floated interventions towards crime outdoors the capital.
The Second Metropolis appears to be first in his thoughts.
“If we have to, we’re going to do the identical factor in Chicago,” he stated throughout his Aug. 11 press convention.
The Chicago Police Division recorded 573 homicides in 2024, greater than every 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 % decrease from the identical interval in 2024.
Chicago’s murder charge stood at greater than 21 per 100,000 in 2024.
That murder charge, although excessive, has trended down from even increased charges through the Nineteen Nineties.
But, charges have been decrease than at present through the 2000s and early 2010s, in line with an evaluation from the College of Chicago Crime Lab.
An Illinois Coverage Institute analysis discovered that the arrest charge for homicides has additionally fallen, declining from 42 % a decade in the past to 27 % from June 2024 by way of June 2025.
New York Metropolis
“I’m going to take a look at New York in a short time,” Trump stated.
Although charges and numbers differ, New York Metropolis’s violent crime tendencies resemble Chicago’s.
Homicides and different severe felonies have not too long ago trended down, however, in some circumstances, stay increased 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 line with city data on crime complaints.
That’s under a latest peak in 2021, which noticed 488 such circumstances, and nicely under a lot increased 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 % 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 %.
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 stated throughout his press convention.
He additionally referenced one other California metropolis, Oakland, and close by Baltimore, saying the 2 are “to date gone.”
Federal Bureau of Investigation data 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 serious decline in murders through the first half of 2025. Mayor Karen Bass touted a pattern that means numbers might hit lows in 2025 not seen in 60 years.
In 2024, Oakland witnessed 81 murders and non-negligent manslaughters, in line with FBI information. The town noticed 120 murders in 2023 as recorded by the Oakland Police Division in its end-of-year report.
The 2024 determine is akin to lows from the late Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s, as recorded in an analysis from the College of California, Berkeley College of Regulation. Throughout the early Nineteen Nineties, Oakland commonly had greater than 140 homicides.
Throughout the first half of 2025, Oakland recorded a 21 % decline in homicides relative to the primary half of 2024.
Baltimore saw 201 homicides in 2024, down from 260 in 2023, in line 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 charge of greater than 35 per 100,000, making it considered one of America’s deadliest massive cities.
Allure Metropolis’s midyear report in 2025 recorded 68 homicides, down from 88 over the identical interval in 2024.
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