U.S. President Donald Trump warned that his administration will seek the death penalty for those who commit murder in Washington as part of his plan to crack down on crime in the capital.
“If someone murders someone in the capital, death penalty,” Trump said during his seventh Cabinet meeting.
According to the President, this “is a very strong preventive measure”, but he assured that his administration is in agreement.
“I don’t know if we are ready for this in this country. But we have no choice,” he added.
“If somebody kills somebody,” the Republican insisted, “it’s going to be death penalty.”
Trump’s announcement is part of his strategy to crack down on what he sees as rampant crime in the US capital, where, despite high levels of crime, numbers remain at a 30-year low.
Last August 11, Trump took control of Washington’s security, initially for 30 days, under the law that allows him to intervene in the city’s authority on the grounds that there is an “emergency” due to high crime.
In addition to the 800 Washington Guard members already activated, six Republican-governed states – West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee – will also send additional troops.
Their arrival brings the number of National Guard troops to about 2,000, while Metropolitan Police and federal agents from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) also patrol the city.
According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, 1,094 people have already been arrested in Washington and 115 illegal weapons have been seized.
Activists and organizations have denounced that federal agencies are taking advantage of this supposed war on crime to detain undocumented migrants, according to information from EFE.
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