1 of 3 | President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order in the Oval Office on Monday. Trump signed executive orders aiming to end cashless bail in Washington, D.C. Photo by Al Drago/UPI | License Photo
President Donald Trump signed executive orders Monday aiming to end “cashless bail” for those arrested in Washington, D.C., as well as one to make burning the American flag illegal.
The executive orders come after the president has taken over law enforcement in the district and has complained that the city’s cashless bail program contributes to crime in the city, Axios News, NBC News and the New York Post reported.
Under cashless bail, a suspect doesn’t have to pay money to be released from custody before trial. Trump previewed his support for ending cashless bail in the district earlier this month. When he announced his decision to federalize the D.C. Metro police force, he called the policy a “disaster.” But analysts say these claims aren’t supported by crime statistics, which show a small percentage of defendants are arrested for violent crimes while awaiting trial, Axios reported.
A White House official said the executive order could threaten to withhold federal funding or government-backed project approvals from Washington if it doesn’t end its cashless-bail policy, as well as withold funds from other cities with cashless bail programs.
Attorney General Pam Bondi will give Trump a list of the no-cash-bail jurisdictions that could end up targeting states like New York, Chicago and others, the New York Post reported.
“Cashless bail policies allow dangerous individuals to immediately return to the streets and further endanger law-abiding, hard-working Americans because they know our laws will not be enforced,” a White House memo on the executive action said.
Critics of cash bail say it unfairly affects low-income people who can’t afford to post bond. They also point to studies showing little correlation between cashless bail and an uptick in crime.
The executive order will ask law enforcement to “work to ensure” that arrestees are taken into federal rather than local custody, Trump said at the signing. This is to prevent suspects from being released on cashless bail, though it isn’t clear why that’s necessary after the executive order.
Under the current arrangement, those detained by federal law enforcement officials in Washington are in federal custody. Those arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department are in local custody.
The District of Columbia largely eliminated cash bail in the 1990s, making it one of the first jurisdictions to do so. Under the city’s policy, a judge assesses whether a defendant should be released from prison based on their risk of not showing up for trial.
Trump also signed an executive order on Monday to prosecute people who “desecrate” the American flag. That order, first reported by Fox News, directs Bondi to “vigorously prosecute those who violate our laws in ways that involve desecrating the flag, and to pursue litigation to clarify the scope of First Amendment in this area,” NBC News reported.
Burning an American flag will be punishable by one year in prison, Trump said at the signing. Bondi said the law against flag burning “will not run afoul of the First Amendment,” but the U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1989 that flag burning was protected under the First Amendment in Texas v. Johnson. The order also targets noncitizens by asking the administration to “deny, prohibit, terminate, or revoke visas, residence permits, or naturalization proceedings, and other immigration benefits, or seek removal” of non-citizens who desecrate the flag.
