US President Donald Trump has stepped up his criticism of the security situation in Washington, DC, now claiming that the US capital has a homicide rate higher than some Latin American capitals such as Bogotá, Mexico City and Lima.
During a press conference on Monday, Trump announced that he would place the Metropolitan Police Department “under direct federal control” and deploy 800 National Guard troops in an effort to “take back the city.”
“The murder rate in Washington today is higher than that of Bogotá, Colombia; Mexico City, or some of the places that you hear about as being the worst places on Earth. It’s much higher,” Trump said.
Trump said the move to “liberate” Washington was part of a broader initiative to “take back control” of cities he said were threatened by violence.
“All is double or triple, so you want to live in places like that? I don’t think so,” the president said, referring to the fact that Washington surpasses Latin American cities like Brasilia, Panama City, and San José in homicide rates.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called Trump’s decision to place the Metropolitan Police Department under federal control and deploy the National Guard “alarming and unprecedented.” While she said she wasn’t entirely surprised, she warned in a press conference that she would not “minimize the intrusion on the autonomy” of the city.
Bowser also assured residents that the local government continues to operate “in a way that makes citizens proud” and has since met with Attorney General Pam Bondi, who, according to the executive order, will have the authority delegated by Trump to coordinate actions with the city. The mayor also clarified that “nothing has changed” in the Metropolitan Police Department’s organizational chart.
Trump based his statements on a graph corresponding to 2024, which shows a homicide rate of 27.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in Washington, a figure that – according to him – would place it above Bogotá, Colombia (15), Panama City, Panama (15), San José, Costa Rica (13), Mexico City, Mexico (10), Lima, Peru (7.7), and Brasilia, Brazil (6.8).
Official statistics for all these cities, obtained from organizations such as Mexico’s INEGI, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Panama, and the goverment of the capital of Brazil, Brasilia, among others, seem to confirm Trump’s statement: Washington did surpass several Latin American capitals in the murder rate per 100,000 inhabitants in recent years, although this is only one of many other crime rates.
However, the most recent official data reflect a more nuanced picture.
According to an analysis by CNN journalist Daniel Dale, crime in Washington has declined significantly since a spike in 2023, when 274 homicides were recorded, the highest number in more than two decades.
Tracking DC’s violent crime decline
In 2024, murders dropped to 187, and so far in 2025, they continue to decline. Data from crime expert Jeff Asher, cited by Dale, indicates that homicides in Washington fell 34% compared with 2023 through July of this year. Furthermore, the violent crime rate in 2024 was the second lowest since 1966.
A preliminary analysis by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department confirms this trend: Overall crime has also decreased so far in 2025, in line with the sustained decline seen in other major US cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
