ANGRY workers and youth demonstrated near a traffic checkpoint set up by police and federal agents in Washington DC, on Wednesday night as President Donald Trump’s takeover of the city’s police entered its third night.
Journalists at the scene observed multiple cars being pulled over temporarily, and at least one person being handcuffed and taken away by law enforcement officers at a checkpoint set up along the city’s 14th Street corridor, an area popular for its bars and restaurants.
Members of the community were seen lining both sides of 14th Street and loudly cursing at the officers.
The angry protest lasted for about two hours, with people yelling phrases like ‘Shame’, ‘You are the criminals’ and ‘Get the f**k out of here’ at the officers.
Others yelled, ‘Take off your mask!’ at some of the federal agents who were wearing masks to cover their faces.
It comes as Trump suggested he will ask Congress to extend federalisation of the the city’s police force beyond 30 days, telling reporters he believes Republicans will back his efforts to allegedly curtail crime in the district.
‘If it’s a national emergency, we can do it without Congress, but we expect to be — before Congress very quickly,’ Trump said at a Kennedy Centre event.
‘And again, we think the Democrats will not do anything to stop crime, but we think the Republicans will do it almost unanimously,’ he added.
While the crowd on 14th street was very loud, they remained peaceful and stayed on the sidewalks. Media did not observe any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement.
In addition to DC Police, who made up the bulk of the more than a dozen officers at the checkpoint, also observed present were agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a component of the Department of Homeland Security, and with Enforcement and Removal Operations, a division of ICE.
National Guard troops were not present at the checkpoint Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Centre that he’s going to submit a ‘crime bill’ to Congress and will ask lawmakers to approve an extension for his administration’s federalisation of the DC police to address crime.
He said: ‘We’re going to need a crime bill that we’re going to be putting in, and it’s going to pertain initially to DC We’re going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can’t have 30 days.’
Trump’s emergency powers to take control of the DC police only lasts for 30 days and any extensions must be approved by Congress.
Meanwhile, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using its agents in two different ways around DC.
The agency’s two law enforcement entities are Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which does long-term investigations into transnational crimes, and Enforcement Removal Operations (ERO), which does what we think of as bread-and-butter ICE operations, like arresting immigrants for immigration crimes and detaining and deporting them.
It emerged that more than 40 agents from HSI are working with the DC police, the Drug Enforcement Administration and other federal agencies this week as part of Trump’s takeover of DC.
They can make arrests of citizens with no nexus to immigration violations.
- In a win for immigrants’ rights, a US District Court granted a temporary restraining order on Tuesday that would improve conditions for people detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at 26 Federal Plaza, said the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Notably, the order prohibits ICE from detaining people in spaces with less than 50 square feet per person.
The order would also require ICE to improve access to hygiene, provide sleeping mats and access to medical care, and ensure people detained can make free, unmonitored, and confidential calls to their lawyers within 24 hours of being detained.
The order comes just days after the American Civil Liberties Union, New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and Wang Hecker LLP filed a class action lawsuit over the abusive conditions at 26 Federal Plaza.
The order will remain in place for at least 14 days while the judge considers longer-term relief.
‘Today’s order sends a clear message: ICE cannot hold people in abusive conditions and deny them their Constitutional rights to due process and legal representation,’ said Eunice Cho, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. ‘We’ll continue to fight to ensure that peoples’ rights are upheld at 26 Federal Plaza and beyond.’
Harold Solis, Co-Legal Director of Make the Road New York, said: ‘We welcome the decision by Judge Kaplan to place clear limits on the disturbing and unlawful conditions to which immigrants have been subjected at 26 Federal Plaza.
‘This ruling sends a hopeful message, one that reinforces what everyone knows to be true: ICE cannot confine people in inhumane conditions, nor can it obstruct their access to counsel. We will remain vigilant to ensure ICE complies with the court’s order.’
‘The conditions and lack of attorney access at 26 Federal Plaza have been horrifying and unconscionable,’ said Heather Gregorio of Wang Hecker LLP. ‘Judge Kaplan’s Temporary Restraining Order imposes basic accountability on ICE and requires that it meet constitutional standards, as all human beings deserve.’
‘The Constitution requires that no one — especially someone unlawfully arrested at their immigration hearing, which happened to so many people in this case — should have to endure the dehumanising conditions we’ve challenged in 26 Federal Plaza,’ said Bobby Hodgson, Assistant Legal Director at the New York Civil Liberties Union.
He added: ‘We look forward to continuing this fight and stopping ICE’s unconstitutional detention practices at 26 Federal Plaza for good.’
- US trade union confederation AFL-CIO’s ‘It’s Better In a Union’ tour bus joined AFSCME members and state Senator Patty Kim for a press conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Tuesday to hold Republican Scott Perry accountable for his vote on President Trump’s disastrous budget bill.
AFL-CIO said: ‘Federal funding cuts in the budget threaten the health and safety of all working people in the state, all so the administration can give the ultrawealthy even more tax breaks.
‘Attendees decried Perry’s affirmative vote on the legislation as a betrayal of his constituents.’
Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Angela Ferritto said: ‘While we watch the President of the United States celebrate his megabill, which will have a massive and unprecedented transfer of wealth from everyday people to billionaires, we see the writing on the wall and the call to action is louder than ever.
‘I think about what we are fighting for here in Pennsylvania. A state budget which is 43 days past due; OSHA protections for public sector workers; the legislative promise of the Inflation Reduction Act; a minimum wage increase that’s long overdue; safe patient to nurse ratios; public education funding to support the success of all children; public transit funding to keep Pennsylvania moving … our fight is the same as the entire working class.’
AFSCME Council 13 retiree Glen Dunbar added: ‘I worked for the Department of Aging, and I have a good understanding of long-term care services.
‘Do you know that almost two-thirds of the elderly who receive long-term care depend on Medicaid to help pay their bills?
‘What are they supposed to do? What are their families supposed to do? Scott Perry must be held accountable for selling out middle-class people for the interests of billionaires.’
