by (States Newsroom) Washington President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy 800 National Guard personnel and seize the District of Columbia’s 3,400-member police department is part of his administration’s ongoing immigration crackdown, local leaders and advocates warned Thursday.
Republican governors are offering their own National Guard members to support the president’s federalization of the district’s 68 square miles, checkpoints are being erected in crowded neighborhoods, and bulldozers are removing homeless people’s tents since the president’s decision on Monday to invoke the district’s Home Rule Act.
Journalists have shared videos of masked police officers forcing citizens of Washington out of their automobiles and making arrests on social media, raising concerns about civil liberties.
Trump has indicated that he wants Congress to extend his authority to deter the crime emergency, even though his control over the district’s police force expires in 28 days.
The scenario was questioned by advocates. In a call with reporters, Norm Eisen, the executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, a litigation group that has contested many of the Trump administration’s actions, stated that there does seem to be evidence that non-federal authorities (Metropolitan Police Department) may have gone beyond the lawful limits at some of those traffic stops and that there will be accountability if the law is broken.
Trump predicts enforcement all over the country
Local political officials and district inhabitants have reacted negatively to the roadblocks.
District Councilmember Brianne Nadeau expressed disapproval of the immigration enforcement at checkpoints in a statement.
According to her, federal law enforcement officers hijacked what would have been a standard MPD traffic safety operation last night. agents without D.C. law training. agents who are unfamiliar with our community. agents who were questioning drivers about their immigration status rather than attempting to solve traffic safety.
Trump declared on Thursday that it was an excellent move for law police to use the checkpoints for immigration enforcement.
After signing a proclamation commemorating the 90th anniversary of Social Security, the president told reporters at the White House, “I think that’s going to happen all over the country.”Our goal is to prevent crime.
The Department of Justice reports that violent crime in the district is at a 30-year low.
Eisen referred to the checkpoints as illegal.
He claimed that they were using it as an immigration control checkpoint. That’s against the law.
Bulldozing camps for homeless people
As part of the president’s order, homeless camps are also being eliminated around the area.
Trump hinted on Wednesday that he will submit a request for a comparatively modest sum of money to Congress in order to rebuild the area.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt warned that homeless people could be fined or imprisoned if they refuse to go to a shelter.
According to Leavitt, the city has been devastated by the homelessness issue. Those who are homeless will be offered the chance to leave their camp, be transported to a shelter, and receive addiction or mental health treatment; if they decline, they risk fines or perhaps jail time.
According to Street Sense Media, a news organization that specializes on covering homelessness in the area, the district has encountered a delay in providing vouchers to individuals who are homeless.
Local police to aid feds on immigration actions
On Thursday, the district police chief issued a new executive order that permits local police to assist federal agents in enforcing immigration laws for foreign nationals who are not in police custody.
The district statute that forbids local police from providing federal immigration agents with information about individuals in police custody is unaffected by the new ruling. Trump has called the city a sanctuary city in response to this policy, but it does not prohibit immigration enforcement.
Trump hailed Thursday’s executive action as a huge win, particularly for district checkpoints.
When they stop someone and discover that they are breaking the law, they report them and deliver them to us, he added.
The president has combined military engagement with immigration enforcement since he was elected to a second term. For example, he sent thousands of troops to the southern border and thousands of members of the National Guard to Los Angeles in response to protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
More National Guard movements possible
Additionally, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, the Trump administration is considering plans to create a Domestic Civil Disturbance Quick Reaction Force made up of 600 National Guard members who would be on standby to be promptly deployed to any U.S. city experiencing a protest or other civil unrest within an hour.
In yet another development, Republican Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee stated on Wednesday that he is ready to deploy members of his National Guard to the area.Lee went on to say that he was informed by U.S. Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll that the military may ask states to send troops to the district to implement the legislation.
In general, the employment of the military for domestic law enforcement is prohibited by the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878.
According to prominent defense lawyer Abbe Lowell, the president has stated that he also wants to deploy National Guard members to other cities, such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York City, and Oakland—all of which are overwhelmingly Democratic and have Black mayors—just as he has done with the district. However, this cannot be duplicated.
Lowell, who was with Eisen on the call with reporters, stated that one thing that people should keep in mind about his attack on the District of Columbia is that it has a very special legal framework because of the Home Rule Act, which gives him some authority over things that he does not have in other states and cities where the governors still have some or the primary control over things like the National Guard.
In a lawsuit brought by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, Trump’s decision to federalize members of the California National Guard is being challenged in a trial this week after the decision was temporarily upheld by an appeals court.
Racial undertones cited by Baltimore mayor
Trump’s targeting of those cities, including the district, is unavoidable, according to Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott.
On the conversation with Eisen and Lowell, he stated, “We’re talking about Black-led cities, and every city that he called out had a Black mayor.” The racist overtones here cannot be overstated.
Additionally, Scott chastised the Trump administration for removing federal law enforcement personnel from their positions with the Drug Enforcement Agency, Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, and FBI. Scott claimed that rather than carrying out their regular duties, they are patrolling Washington, DC’s neighborhoods, stopping citizens, and inspecting cars.
“The president should return to sending agents to their actual agencies and have them help us work on gun trafficking and violent drug organizations, instead of taking these agents off to work on this immigration brigade that he’s had them on,” Scott said, if he truly wants to help these cities continue to reduce crime and violence.
We’re working closely with Democratic Governor Wes Moore of Maryland, he continued, and we’ll be ready to take any necessary legal or other action.
Moore, a former member of the U.S. Army, has expressed disapproval of the president’s decision to send the National Guard to the district and expressed worries that military personnel lack the same training as law enforcement.
Trump dismissed those worries on Thursday.
According to the president, personnel of the National Guard are trained in common sense.
Emergencies
Eisen claimed that the president’s practice of using non-emergencies included Trump’s activities in the district.
Despite limited immigration, Trump proclaimed a national emergency at the border on Inauguration Day.
He employed the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, a wartime law that had only been applied three times before, in March.
Following an attempted carjacking incident outside the Logan Circle area at around 3 a.m. Eastern that injured a former U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, staffer, Trump decided to declare a crime emergency in the district earlier this week. In connection with the incident, two youths from Maryland were taken into custody on suspicion of unarmed carjacking.
According to Eisen, the president’s actions in the District of Columbia, including as making unauthorized traffic stops, are consistent with his authoritarian style.
