Poli Alert Politics & Civics
Related Articles
President Donald Trump on Monday signed a sweeping series of executive orders aimed at eliminating cashless bail policies in the nation’s capital and across the United States, escalating his efforts to portray Democrats as weak on crime ahead of 2026’s midterm elections.
“We’re ending it, but we’re starting by ending it in D.C., and that we have the right to do by federalization,” Trump said in the Oval Office, flanked by senior aides.
The orders direct federal agencies to withhold grants and other funding streams from jurisdictions that continue to release defendants without requiring cash bail. In Washington, where Trump recently federalized the city’s police force and deployed thousands of National Guard troops, one order instructs officials to hold “as many criminal defendants in federal custody and subjecting them to federal charges as possible,” according to White House staff secretary Will Scharf.
Cashless bail, also known as bail reform, allows defendants to be released without paying upfront money, with judges instead weighing factors such as public safety risk and likelihood of returning to court. Proponents argue the system prevents poor defendants from being unfairly jailed simply because they cannot afford bail, while critics contend it has allowed repeat offenders to cycle quickly back onto the streets.
Trump campaigned heavily against bail reform during the 2024 election, pledging to “crack down on left-wing jurisdictions that refuse to prosecute dangerous criminals and set loose violent felons on cashless bail.”
The policy has long been a flashpoint in Democratic states. In New York, Democrats scaled back elements of their bail reform law in 2022 after losing several suburban races. Illinois and California have faced similar political pressure.
“This was a nationally coordinated campaign by the Republicans, and we did not, frankly, rise to the occasion to explain to people what we did do,” New York state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said in 2022, defending bail reform’s intent. “The point was and still is not to criminalize poverty — it’s to criminalize criminals.”
Civil liberties groups are expected to challenge Trump’s executive actions in court, arguing bail decisions have traditionally been left to states and local governments.
For now, the White House says it is moving swiftly to reshape criminal justice nationwide by starting in the capital. “D.C. is the testing ground,” Scharf said. “The president believes this will send a message to every jurisdiction in the country.”
