In August of 2025, the President sent 800 National Guard troops into Washington, D.C., stripped the city’s elected leaders of control over its police force, and placed the department under direct federal command.
There was no violent uprising, no natural disaster, no genuine emergency — just a political power play dressed up as public safety. This was done under Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act, an obscure legal tool meant for rare crises. Now it’s being used to overrule a majority-Black city’s democratic will, erasing decades of progress toward self-governance.
For more than 50 years, D.C. residents have lived without full representation in Congress. Today, they’ve been shown that even their limited local control can be taken away with the stroke of a pen.
The timing makes the move even more cynical. D.C. crime is at a 30-year low. Biden-era reforms created new guardrails for transparency, community oversight, and police accountability — guardrails this administration is dismantling in real time. If they can do this to D.C., what stops them from doing it to any city or state that disagrees with them?
This takeover is more than a local issue. It’s a warning shot for the country. It shows how federal power can be weaponized to silence communities, roll back civil rights protections, and sidestep democratic norms. It sets a precedent that authoritarian-minded leaders will be eager to follow.
NPAP is committed to fighting back and to being a resource at this moment. We have trained attorneys across the country on how to hold federal officers accountable. We are actively seeking records from the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database (NLEAD), We are connecting the public with experienced civil rights advocates.
As this federal overreach in D.C. could mark the start of a broader wave of takeovers targeting communities that demand justice, our national network stands ready to equip, inform, and support those on the frontlines of the fight for accountability.