Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful
President Trump issued an executive order aiming to enhance safety and beauty in Washington, D.C. The order establishes a task force to coordinate federal and local efforts to combat crime, primarily focusing on immigration enforcement and improving law enforcement resources available to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Simultaneously, it directs the Secretary of the Interior to implement a beautification program encompassing coordinated cleanup initiatives, monument restoration, and graffiti removal, while promoting private-sector involvement.
The order emphasizes making the nation’s capital a safe, beautiful, and prosperous city for all Americans.
Arguments For
Improved Public Safety: The order aims to reduce crime and enhance public safety in Washington D.C. by increasing law enforcement presence and coordination between federal and local agencies.
Enhanced Beautification: Initiatives are proposed to improve the aesthetics of the city, restoring damaged monuments, removing graffiti, and promoting cleaner public spaces. This aims to enhance the city's image and civic pride.
Inter-agency Collaboration: The establishment of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force facilitates collaboration between various federal agencies, enabling a coordinated response to safety and beautification challenges.
Legal Basis: The order is issued under the authority vested in the President by the Constitution and laws of the United States. It cites prior Executive Orders (13933 and 14189) as a basis for certain actions.
Economic Benefits: A safer and more attractive city can contribute to economic growth by attracting tourists and investment, bolstering local businesses and the overall economy.
Arguments Against
Potential for Overreach: The order's focus on immigration enforcement and the deployment of federal resources in D.C. could be viewed as exceeding presidential authority or infringing upon local jurisdiction.
Implementation Challenges: Coordinating multiple federal agencies and local authorities presents logistical difficulties. Securing funding, obtaining necessary approvals, and dealing with potential legal challenges could delay or hinder implementation.
Unintended Consequences: Increased law enforcement presence might lead to strained community relations or disproportionate targeting of specific groups. Beautification efforts might displace homeless individuals without adequate solutions.
Cost Concerns: The substantial resource commitment required for both improved safety measures and extensive beautification projects could strain resources and potentially impact other federal priorities.
Alternative Approaches: Community-led initiatives, improved social services, and investment in root causes of crime and urban decay might offer more sustainable and equitable solutions.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. As the Federal capital city, Washington, D.C., is the only city that belongs to all Americans and that all Americans can claim as theirs. As the capital city of the greatest Nation in the history of the world, it should showcase beautiful, clean, and safe public spaces. America’s capital must be a place in which residents, commuters, and tourists feel safe at all hours, including on public transit. Its highways, boulevards, and parks should be clean, well-kept, and pleasant. Its monuments, museums, and buildings should reflect and inspire awe and appreciation for our Nation’s strength, greatness, and heritage. Our citizens deserve nothing less.
This section introduces the presidential order, asserting its authority and stating its purpose: to transform Washington, D.C., into a safe, clean, and aesthetically pleasing city reflecting American values.
The order emphasizes that Washington, D.C., belongs to all Americans and should uphold the nation's image.
Sec. 2. Policy. It is the policy of the United States 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.
This section outlines the overall policy goal: to make Washington, D.C., safe, beautiful, and prosperous through crime prevention, punishment of criminals, order preservation, protection of monuments, and beautification efforts that honor the nation's history.
Sec. 3. Making the District of Columbia Safe by Fighting Crime. (a) My Administration shall work closely with local officials to share information, develop joint priorities, and maximize resources to make the District of Columbia safe. Such coordination shall occur through the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force (Task Force), which is hereby established by this order. The Task Force shall be chaired by the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor or his designee, and shall otherwise include representatives from the following departments, agencies, or components, selected as such department, agency, or component determines: (i) the Department of the Interior; (ii) the Department of Transportation; (iii) the Department of Homeland Security; (iv) the Federal Bureau of Investigation; (v) the United States Marshals Service; (vi) the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; (vii) the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia; (viii) the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland; and (ix) the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. The Chairman of the Task Force may also select other departments, agencies, or components to participate as he deems necessary. Representatives of such other departments, agencies, or components shall be selected as such department, agency, or component determines. (b) The Task Force may, to the extent permitted by law, request operational assistance from and coordinate with the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia (MPD), Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, United States Park Police, Amtrak Police, and other Federal and local officials as appropriate. (c) The Task Force shall coordinate to ensure effective Federal participation in the following tasks: (i) directing maximum enforcement of Federal immigration law and redirecting available Federal, State, or local law enforcement resources to apprehend and deport illegal aliens in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area; (ii) monitoring the District of Columbia’s sanctuary-city status and compliance with the enforcement of Federal immigration law; (iii) providing assistance to facilitate the prompt and complete accreditation of the District of Columbia’s forensic crime laboratory; (iv) in collaboration with its leadership and union, providing MPD with assistance to facilitate the recruitment, retention, and capabilities of its police officers and to facilitate work with Federal personnel, resources, and expertise to reduce crime; (v) collaborating with appropriate local government entities to provide assistance to increase the speed and lower the cost of processing concealed carry license requests in the District of Columbia; (vi) reviewing and, as appropriate, revising Federal prosecutorial 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; (vii) collaborating with appropriate local government entities to provide assistance to end fare evasion and other crime within the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority system; and (viii) deploying a more robust Federal law enforcement presence and coordinating with local law enforcement to facilitate the deployment of a more robust local law enforcement presence as appropriate in areas in or about the District of Columbia, including in such areas as the National Mall and Memorial Parks, museums, monuments, Lafayette Park, Union Station, Rock Creek Park, Anacostia Park, the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the Suitland Parkway, and the Baltimore-Washington Parkway, and ensuring that all applicable quality of life, nuisance, and public-safety laws are strictly enforced, such as those prohibiting assault, battery, larceny, graffiti and other vandalism, unpermitted disturbances and demonstrations, noise, trespassing, public intoxication, drug possession, sale, and use, and traffic violations, including as prescribed by Executive Order 13933 of June 26, 2020 (Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues and Combating Recent Criminal Violence), which was reinstated by Executive Order 14189 of January 29, 2025 (Celebrating America’s 250th Birthday). (d) The Task Force shall report to me as necessary through the Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor regarding safety in the District of Columbia, and the tasks set forth in subsection (c) of this section. As part of this reporting, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Task Force, shall assess whether public-safety circumstances in the District of Columbia require additional executive action.
This section details how the District of Columbia will be made safer. A D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force is created, composed of representatives from various federal agencies, to coordinate efforts with local authorities.
The Task Force's responsibilities include immigration enforcement, monitoring sanctuary city policies, improving forensic facilities, supporting the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), streamlining concealed carry licensing, revising pretrial detention policies, combating transit crime, and increasing federal law enforcement presence in key areas.
It will also report to the President on its progress and any need for further executive action.
Sec. 4. Making the District of Columbia Beautiful. (a) The Secretary of the Interior, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Transportation, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, the Administrator of General Services, the National Capital Planning Commission, and the heads of such other executive departments or agencies and local officials as the Secretary of the Interior deems appropriate, shall develop and implement a program to beautify and make safe and prosperous the District of Columbia. (b) The program under subsection (a) of this section shall include, at a minimum, the following elements as appropriate and consistent with applicable law: (i) a coordinated beautification plan for Federal and local facilities, monuments, land, parks, and roadways in and around the District of Columbia; (ii) restoration of Federal public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties that have been damaged or defaced, or inappropriately removed or changed, in recent years; (iii) removal of graffiti from commonly visited areas, with local assistance; (iv) proposals to ensure Federal buildings or lands adequately uplift and beautify public spaces and generate in the citizenry pride in and respect for our Nation; (v) a coordinated Federal and local approach to ensure the cleanliness of public spaces, sidewalks, parks, highways, roads, and transit systems in and around the District of Columbia; and (vi) the encouragement of private-sector participation in coordinated beautification and clean-up efforts in the District of Columbia. c) The Secretary of the Interior shall immediately issue a directive to the National Park Service requiring prompt removal and cleanup of all homeless or vagrant encampments and graffiti on Federal land within the District of Columbia subject to the National Park Service’s jurisdiction, to the maximum extent permitted by law.
This section outlines the plan to beautify Washington, D.C. The Secretary of the Interior, in collaboration with other agencies and local officials, will lead a program including a comprehensive beautification strategy for federal and local spaces.
This involves restoring damaged monuments, graffiti removal, promoting aesthetically pleasing federal buildings, ensuring cleanliness of public areas, and fostering private-sector involvement.
The National Park Service is instructed to immediately remove homeless encampments and graffiti from federal land under its jurisdiction.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect: (i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals. (b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations. (c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
This section contains general provisions, clarifying that the order does not diminish the authority of existing agencies or the OMB's budgetary functions.
It emphasizes that implementation will adhere to legal requirements and available funding.
Finally, it states that the order does not create any legally enforceable rights.