U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was going to end cashless bail, also known as the SAFE-T Act, in Chicago as he declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C.
Trump signed an executive order on Monday declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia.
The White House said that the president determined that special conditions of an emergency nature exist, requiring the use of the Metropolitan Police Department’s services to maintain law and order, protect federal buildings, national monuments and other federal property.
The order invokes the president’s authority under the District of Columbia Self-Government and Governmental Reorganization Act to require the mayor to make the services of the Metropolitan Police Department available to the president, the White House said.
The order delegates the authority to the U.S. Attorney General, who will also monitor the emergency conditions and provide updates to Trump. The National Guard will also be deployed.
The White House said the surge in violent crime in the nation’s capital is a “national disgrace” that threatens public safety and federal operations.
“This is Liberation Day in D.C. — and we’re going to take our capital back,” Trump said during a press conference.
“They’ll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers and criminal networks to get them the hell off the street,” Trump said.
The president said that the murder rate in Washington, D.C. is higher than in Bogota, Colombia, and Mexico City, Mexico. He referenced the “abject failures” of the city’s local leadership.
While discussing the “no cash bail” law in D.C., Trump said that every place in America with cashless bail is a “disaster.”
“That’s what started the problem in New York and they don’t change it, they don’t want to change it. That’s what started it in Chicago. I mean, bad politicians started it, bad leadership started it. But that was the one thing that’s central, no cash bail. Somebody murders somebody and they’re out on no cash bail before the day is out,” Trump said.
The president said he is going to end cashless bail in Chicago by changing the statute.
“I spoke with Pam and Todd and everybody. We’re going to change the statute and I’m going to have to get the Republicans to vote because the Democrats are weak on crime, totally weak on crime. They don’t know why. They want it to stop because they get mugged, too. But we’re going to change no cash bail. We’re going to change the statute and get rid of some of the other things and we’ll count on the Republicans in Congress and Senate to vote,” Trump said.
Trump said that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is “totally incompetent” and also called Governor JB Pritzker “incompetent.”
“His family threw him out of the business and he ran for governor. Now I understand he wants to be president. But I noticed he lost a little weight, so maybe he has a chance. You never know what happens. But Pritzker is a gross, incompetent guy, thrown out of the family business,” the president said.
The Pretrial Fairness Act of the SAFE-T Act, which ended cash bail in Illinois, went into effect in the state in September 2023.
The law creates a strong presumption in favor of release that cannot be overcome unless the court finds a defendant “poses a real and present threat to any person or the community” and no “combination of conditions” can mitigate the threat posed.
The law also lists specific offenses that are detainable.
Offenses that are non-detainable mean that a judge cannot hold a defendant no matter the circumstances or the defendant’s criminal history.
Certain non-detainable offenses include battering a police officer, pointing a gun at a person and battering an elderly or disabled person.