President Donald Trump this week invoked emergency powers to assume control of Washington, D.C.’s police force for 30 days and ordered the first contingent of 800 National Guard members onto the city’s streets. He said the move was necessary after a Department of Government Efficiency employee was injured in an attempted carjacking and warned he could take similar action in other large, predominantly Black-led cities that he described as “crime-ridden” and “horribly run.” Black mayors counter that the administration’s assessment is at odds with current crime data. Washington’s Metropolitan Police report violent crime has fallen from its post-pandemic peak in 2023. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson cites a more than 30 percent drop in homicides and roughly 40 percent decline in shootings over the past year. Los Angeles recorded a 14 percent reduction in homicides between 2023 and 2024, while Baltimore’s killings fell to 201 in 2024 from 260 the prior year and Oakland logged a 21 percent decline in homicides and a 29 percent fall in overall violent crime during the first half of 2025. Members of the African American Mayors Association, led by Savannah Mayor Van Johnson, say youth-engagement programs, gun-buybacks and public-health strategies are driving the improvements. They argue that a military presence could undercut hard-won gains and note that the Justice Department this year trimmed federal grants for violence-prevention efforts by more than $1 million. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser is challenging the federal takeover in court, while counterparts in Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland monitor the legal fight and press Congress for assistance aimed at gun trafficking and cybercrime rather than troop deployments.