The Liberty Daily 
More than 16,000 individuals have been arrested in Washington since the launch of the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force one year ago, the U.S. Marshals Service said in an Aug. 10 statement.
The task force was established through a March 2025 executive order signed by President Donald Trump that aimed to tackle concerns about crime, public order, and urban aesthetics in the nation’s capital.
“One year later, the results speak for themselves,” the U.S. Marshals Service said.
Those arrested include more than 3,200 people apprehended for narcotics-related crimes, more than 100 known gang members, and 35 homicide suspects. Almost 2,000 illegal firearms have been seized.
“This has been the largest, most aggressive law enforcement collaboration ever assembled to confront crime in a major American city,” the Marshals Service said.
In January, the task force arrested three MS-13 gang members wanted for first-degree murder over the fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy. In October 2025, two other people were arrested for the attempted carjacking, robbery, and beating of a former staffer from the Department of Government Efficiency.
Last year, the task force also apprehended three individuals who gunned down a 21-year-old congressional intern in June 2025. This violent act became the catalyst for the creation of the task force, according to the Marshals Service.
Trump declared a crime emergency in Washington in an Aug. 11, 2025, executive order, which was followed by a federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital.
In the order, Trump said that Washington had a higher violent crime, murder, and robbery rate than all 50 U.S. states. In 2024, the homicide rate in Washington was 27.54 per 100,000 residents, according to the executive order. The vehicle theft rate of 842.4 per 100,000 residents was the country’s highest and more than three times the national average.
Both homicide and vehicle theft crimes declined in the first half of 2026 from the same period last year, prior to launching the task force, according to an Aug. 11 report from the think tank Council on Criminal Justice.
Homicide was down 41 percent and motor vehicle theft by 54 percent. Other crimes that have declined during the period include sexual assault, robbery, carjacking, and larceny, according to the report.
In addition to arresting criminals, the task force also located 25 missing children over the past year, returning them to their homes, the Marshals Service said in its recent statement.
“The men and women of the U.S. Marshals Service, along with our partners from so many federal and local agencies, have tirelessly worked to make D.C. safer for those who live here and for those who visit our nation’s capital,” U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta said.
“This operation shows the relentless dedication we have to investigate and apprehend the most violent, dangerous fugitives. When law enforcement works together, the impact is exponential. The D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is proof of that the whole-of-government approach works.”
The deployment of federal forces in Washington has faced criticism from local officials. In April, City Council Chairman Phil Mendelson said taxpayers were shelling out more than $1 million a day for National Guard members deployed in the city.
“The presence of armed soldiers on American streets is not a good look,” Mendelson said.
A report from the Congressional Budget Office suggested that National Guard deployment in Washington could cost $55 million a month, based on an estimate of 2,950 troop members. As of July 8, there were 5,148 National Guard troops assigned to the nation’s capital.
During a July 2 address at Washington’s Meridian Hill Park, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth credited National Guard members in the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force for a “staggering” drop in crime in the city.
Air Force Gen. Steven Nordhaus, chief of the National Guard Bureau, credited troop members for saving more than 235 lives.
Last month, the Pentagon confirmed that the National Guard deployment in Washington would continue until Jan. 20, 2029, the end of Trump’s current term.
