WASHINGTON, D.C.—Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau, D-Ward 1, issued the following statement one year after President Trump announced a “crime emergency” in D.C., took over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department for 30 days, and deployed the National Guard in the city. The Guard is now expected to stay in D.C. through 2029.
“What we’re seeing is a stunning deviation from democratic norms, and straight from the totalitarian playbook. The longer the National Guard is here, the more normalized every encounter becomes. When the next escalation takes place, it’ll be seen as less significant because we’re already used to seeing the Guard hanging around Metro stations and public parks and walking through residential neighborhoods.
“Immigrants, most of whom are here legally, many of them U.S. citizens, should not be made afraid to leave their homes. Continued presence of federal law enforcement earlier this year, including ICE, Homeland Security, DEA, and others, contributes even more deeply to that fear.
“The aggressive actions of federal agents continue to endanger our residents. In April, federal agents fired into the car of an unarmed man during a traffic stop. (MPD did not initially disclose this fact and did not share body cam footage until the Council passed a law requiring them to do so.) In June, National Park Service police began a high-speed chase of a man in a stolen car that ended up killing an innocent moped rider. The United States Park Police had a no-chase policy until an executive order by President Trump lifted that last year.
“Last October I held a roundtable on possible human rights violations stemming from this federal interference, the first opportunity for residents to speak up in a public forum about the demeaning federal imposition on the city. In January of this year, I released a committee report that called on the Mayor and police chief to rescind two orders that allow D.C. police to cooperate with federal law enforcement on immigration, including the Mayor’s order creating a “Safe and Beautiful Emergency Operations Center.” Those orders are still in effect, even as the Mayor has continued to say that MPD does not collaborate on immigration enforcement because that’s not their job.
“This collaboration with immigration enforcement is not OK.
“Still, there is reason to be hopeful. The people of D.C. are incredibly resilient. We have a long tradition of fighting back and protesting. The Free DC Project is a perfect example of that – fighting the fight, full of energy and hope and joy, playing the short and the long game.
“The people of D.C. will always, always fight back.”
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