Trump's DC attack

 

 

 

 

 Washington Post - In the weeks since President Donald Trump’s takeover of D.C. police, restaurant workers have been picked up by immigration officials while walking home after their shifts. They’ve been detained while going to work. Some have even been pulled out of Ubers

The immigration crackdown has aggravated the city’s already struggling dining scene, leaving restaurant owners scrambling to staff kitchens and keep their doors open in a city where tourism is down and locals aren’t in the mood to celebrate.

The Washington Post talked to more than 20 D.C. chefs, owners and immigration lawyers who shared details about workers who have apparently been arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Together, these people shared information about 23 workers — dishwashers, line cooks, food runners, a prep cook and a butcher, many of them from Latin American countries — believed to be in ICE detention or, in some cases, already deported.

Washington Post -  The National Guard, in measuring public sentiment about President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C., has assessed that its mission is perceived as “leveraging fear,” driving a “wedge between citizens and the military,” and promoting a sense of “shame” among some troops and veterans, according to internal documents reviewed by The Washington Post.

The assessments, which have not been previously reported, underscore how domestic mobilizations that are rooted in politics risk damaging Americans’ confidence in the men and women who serve their communities in times of crisis. The documents reveal, too, with a rare candor in some cases, that military officials have been kept apprised that their mission is viewed by a segment of society as wasteful, counterproductive and a threat to long-standing precedent stipulating that U.S. soldiers — with rare exception — are to be kept out of domestic law enforcement matters.

The Guardian - The Home Rule Act – which allowed Washington DC to establish a local government – only allows the president to take over the city’s police department for 30 days without approval from Congress, aspects of Trump’s actions are likely to continue past Wednesday. Mayor Muriel Bowser has issued an order for the MPD to coordinate with federal law enforcement to the “maximum extent allowable by law within the District”, and national guard troops reportedly may stay until the end of the year.

Washington DC residents have pushed back against what many call an occupation, which is deeply unpopular in the largely Democratic city. On Saturday, thousands marched from Malcolm X park in Northwest DC to the White House in an event organized by Free DC, a community organization working to protect the city’s Home Rule that has trained thousands of people since 11 August.

“Trump’s crackdown does not create safety, but it’s opposite,” said Scott Michelman, legal director for the ACLU of DC. “People are scared to go to their jobs, to drop off their kids at school, and to go about their daily lives because of the pervasive law enforcement and military presence that Trump has foisted on this city.”