Update: The District of Columbia’s attorney general said Thursday that he was suing to end the deployment of the National Guard in Washington, two days after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration’s use of troops in Los Angeles had been unlawful.
So much for Mayor Bowser’s cooperation. The attorney general Brian Scwalb will sue to remove them.
Schwalb argues that the National Guard units deployed in D.C. are reporting through the military chain of command, making them subject to the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 statute that restricts the use of U.S. armed forces on America’s streets.
The lawsuit says that National Guard troops are in D.C. for the explicit purpose of addressing crime in violation of that law, with directions to patrol local neighborhoods while carrying firearms and to conduct law enforcement activities such as searches, seizures, and arrests.
There are exceptions to the law. This will end up in the Supreme Court.
Original Story, October 2
Mayor Muriel Bowser posted a public memo asking for continued cooperation with the federal government to fight crime.
It’s great unexpected news. We won’t question her motives. Hopefully, she is doing it for the right reasons and cares about the people.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser today issued an executive order that she said provides a “pathway forward beyond the Presidential emergency” by continuing to work with the Trump administration to combat crime.
The order says that “violent crime in the District has noticeably decreased” since Trump announced his emergency surge of federal law enforcement last month, and it directs continued collaboration between the city and the federal government “to the maximum extent allowable by law” moving forward.
It also establishes an emergency operations center to handle coordination between city and federal agencies.
The order is open-ended. Trump’s 30-day emergency order is set to expire in the coming week.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the move on X.
“The Trump Administration is grateful to continue partnering with Mayor Bowser to make DC the safest city in the country,” she wrote, adding that Bowser’s “fellow Democrats should take note, working with President Trump means safer communities and less crime — no one in their right mind could seriously oppose that.”
Chicago Wants to Continue the Crime Wave
At the same time, Chicago Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker said they didn’t want the help and absurdly called it an “invasion” to clean up their mess.
Asked whether he’d be sending the National Guard into Chicago, Trump said, “We‘re going in.”
“I didn’t say when, but we’re going in,” he told reporters in the Oval Office.
“This isn’t a political thing. I have an obligation. When we lose — 20 people are killed over the last 2½ weeks.”
I doubt DC cooperates much. The feds do not need them to make arrests. DC probably needs to use their jails for some arrestees and also charge people. I wonder how that will go, getting bad people convicted and confined. Bowser is in jeopardy of Trump taking over. He has mentioned it. Her move protects her position and can lead… Read more »
For whatever personal or political reason, it’s good news and will save lives in D.C.