Cuts from the Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) and the deployment of Nationwide Guard troops have left a lingering sting on Washington, D.C.—a lot in order that the temper of residents continues to be “very anxious.”
That’s in accordance with Muriel Bowser, the three-term mayor of the nation’s capital, talking at Fortune’s Most Highly effective Ladies Summit right this moment.
“It’s an unsettling time, and I would point directly to the shifting footprint of the federal government in Washington,” Bowser stated.
In August, President Donald Trump declared a “crime emergency” and deployed members of the Nationwide Guard, who proceed to patrol elements of the town.
Violent crime within the metropolis decreased by 35% between 2023 and 2024, and to date this yr, it has decreased by 28%, in accordance with the D.C. Metropolitan Police Division. (Allies of the Trump administration have opened an investigation into whether or not police management “deliberately manipulated crime data.”) Because the arrival of the Nationwide Guard, crime has decreased within the D.C. space. Within the first three weeks, violent crime dropped by about 10%. (Town will not be crime free—as Trump has claimed.)
However past the Nationwide Guard, Bowser additionally pointed to how immigration motion has despatched a chill throughout the town. Between Jan. 20 and the top of July, ICE made 85 arrests within the nation’s capital, in accordance with information obtained by the Deportation Knowledge Venture and reported by The New York Instances. From early August to mid-September, arrests elevated to round 1,200.
“What we’re seeing is just devastating impact on unprecedented immigration enforcement, and that has the impact, obviously, on individuals, on their families, on their ability to work, but it also has a big impact on business,” she stated.
“People aren’t going to work,” she added. It’s one thing she expects could have a long-lasting influence throughout industries, reminiscent of hospitality, tourism, and development.
Bowser has led Washington, D.C., via a collection of sudden occasions, together with the pandemic and the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. And whereas a few of her actions have upset some metropolis residents, reminiscent of portray over of the “Black Lives Matter” road mural, she stated she’s making an attempt to “do the best that I can for the most people the fastest.”
Bowser stated she’s going to announce “at the appropriate time” if she’s going to search a fourth time period subsequent November.
