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Protesters heckled federal law enforcement officials as they reportedly stopped dozens of cars at a checkpoint along a busy street in Washington DC on Wednesday night, underscoring tensions after Donald Trump announced he was taking control of the city’s police department and deploying the national guard in the city.
Around 20 law enforcement officers, some of whom appeared to be from the Department of Homeland Security, pulled over drivers for infractions like broken taillights and not wearing seatbelts, according to the Washington Post. At least one woman was reportedly arrested as more than 100 protesters gathered and reportedly yelled things like “get off our streets,” according to NBC News. Some protesters began warning drivers to avoid the area, the outlet reported.
Nearly 800 national guard troops have begun arriving in the city this week. The White House says officials have made more than 100 arrests since Trump announced the takeover on Monday. The Metropolitan police department said it made 74 arrests on Wednesday and has made 217 arrests since Monday.
DC’s Home Rule Act of 1973 allows the president to take control of the city’s police force for 30 days for “federal purposes” that the president “may deem necessary and appropriate”. Trump has suggested he will seek to extend that past 30 days. Doing so would require authorization from Congress.
Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the US Senate, said on Wednesday that his party would not support Trump’s efforts to extend the takeover. “No fucking way”, Schumer said during a podcast interview with Aaron Parnas. “We’ll fight him tooth and nail.”
If Congress doesn’t grant the extension, Trump suggested on Wednesday he could declare an emergency to unilaterally extend the takeover.
“If it’s a national emergency we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be before Congress very quickly,” Trump said.
Trump has portrayed America’s capitol city as a crime-ridden metropolis. Violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024 after a spike in 2023.
“We don’t live in a dirty city,” Washington DC mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, told community groups on Tuesday. “We are not 700,000 scumbags and punks. We don’t have neighborhoods that should be bulldozed. We have to be clear about our story.”
Phil Mendelson, a Democrat serving as the chair of the Washington DC city council, told the Washington Post that despite Trump’s politicization of the takeover, the relationship between law enforcement agencies had actually been collaborative.
“I think collaborating with MPD and providing additional resources can only be for the good,” he said. “But the president has a national platform, and he’s painted the city as a cesspool of crime. We know that’s not true, but that is damaging to the city.”
