Trump team backs down in stoush over police takeover in Washington, DC

Washington: The Trump administration has reversed course and agreed to leave the Washington, DC, police chief in control of her department, but Attorney-General Pam Bondi has directed the city’s police to co-operate with federal immigration enforcement, regardless of any city law.

The order from Bondi came after officials in the United States capital sued on Friday to block President Donald Trump’s takeover of the Washington police.

The night before, his administration had escalated its intervention into the city’s law enforcement by naming a federal official as the new emergency head of the DC police department, replacing police chief Pamela Smith, a move that essentially put the police force under the full control of the federal government. At issue was the extent of co-operation between DC police and federal officers pursuing Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

The attorney-general’s new order represents a partial retreat for the Trump administration in the face of intense scepticism from a judge over the legality of Bondi’s earlier directive to replace Smith.

But Bondi also signalled the administration would continue to pressure DC leaders to help federal authorities aggressively pursue immigrants in the country illegally, despite city laws on the books that limit co-operation between police and immigration authorities.

In a social media post on Friday evening, Bondi criticised DC Attorney-General Brian Schwalb, saying he “continues to oppose our efforts to improve public safety”. But she added: “We remain committed to working closely with Mayor Bowser.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office said late on Friday (Saturday AEST) that it was still evaluating how it could comply with the new Bondi order on immigration enforcement operations.

In a letter sent on Friday night to DC citizens, Bowser wrote: “It has been an unsettling and unprecedented week in our city. Over the course of a week, the surge in federal law enforcement across DC has created waves of anxiety.”

She added that “our limited self-government has never faced the type of test we are facing right now”, but added that if the city’s people stuck together, “we will show the entire nation what it looks like to fight for American democracy – even when we don’t have full access to it”.

The legal battle was the latest evidence of the escalating tensions in a mostly Democratic city that now has its police department largely under the control of the Republican president’s administration. Trump’s takeover is historic, yet it had played out with a slow ramp-up in federal law enforcement officials and National Guard troops to start the week.

As the weekend approached, though, signs across the city – from the streets to the legal system – suggested a deepening crisis over who controlled the city’s immigration and policing policies, the district’s right to govern itself, and daily life for the millions of people who live and work in the metro area.

The two sides sparred in court for hours on Friday, appearing before US District Judge Ana Reyes, who is overseeing the lawsuit.

Reyes indicated the law likely did not grant the Trump administration power to fully take over city police but it probably did give the president more power than the city might like.

The judge asked the two sides to hammer out a compromise but promised to issue a court order temporarily blocking the administration from naming a new chief if they couldn’t agree.

A lawyer for the Trump administration, Yaakov Roth, said in court that the move to sideline Smith came after an immigration order that still held back some aid to federal authorities.

He argued the president had broad authority to determine what kind of help police in Washington must provide.

The police takeover is the latest move by Trump to test the limits of his legal authority to carry out his agenda by relying on obscure statutes and a supposed state of emergency to bolster his tough-on-crime message and his plans to speed up the mass deportation of people in the US illegally.

It also marks one of the most sweeping assertions of federal authority over a local government in modern times. While Washington has grappled with spikes in violence and visible homelessness, the city’s homicide rate ranks below those of several other major US cities, and the capital is not in the throes of the public safety collapse the Trump administration has portrayed.

The president has more power over the nation’s capital than other cities but Washington has elected its own mayor and city council since the Home Rule Act was signed in 1973.

Trump is the first president to exert control over the city’s police force since the act was passed. The law limits that control to 30 days without congressional approval, though Trump had suggested he would seek to extend it.

Bondi’s directive on Thursday night to place the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, in charge of the police department came even after Smith had told Metropolitan Police Department officers hours earlier to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody, such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint.

The Justice Department said Bondi disagreed with the police chief’s instructions because they allowed for continued practice of “sanctuary policies”, which generally limit co-operation by local law enforcement with federal immigration officers.

A population already tense from days of ramp-up has begun seeing more significant shows of force across the city. National Guard troops have watched over some of the world’s most renowned landmarks this week, and Humvees took position in front of the busy main train station. Volunteers helped homeless people leave long-standing encampments – to where was often unclear.

Twenty federal law enforcement teams had fanned out across the city on Thursday night with more than 1750 people joining the operation, a White House official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the operation.

They had made 33 arrests, including 15 migrants who did not have permanent legal status, the official said. Others were arrested on warrants for murder, rape and driving under the influence.

Department of Homeland Security police stood outside Nationals Park during a baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the Philadelphia Phillies. DEA agents patrolled The Wharf, a popular nightlife area, while Secret Service officers were seen in the Foggy Bottom neighbourhood.

As city officials challenged the Trump administration in court, more than 100 protesters gathered less than a block away in front of police headquarters for a rally, chanting “Protect home rule!” and waving signs saying “Resist!”

AP

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