In President Donald Trump’s latest flex of authority, federal and local officers set up a checkpoint Wednesday night on a popular street in Washington, D.C., seemingly in an attempt to find and arrest undocumented immigrants.
For Republicans, it was exactly the sort of action voters elected Trump to take. For Democrats, the scene conjured images of a very different capital city.
“The capital of the United States of America should not feel like East Berlin in the 1950s,” Rep. Jared Huffman told NOTUS.
At the checkpoint, officers wore Homeland Security Investigations as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement garb and reportedly detained at least two people. The Metropolitan Police Department — which is currently under Trump’s command — told NOTUS that 344 vehicles passed through the checkpoint and 28 vehicles were stopped.
The scene, which sparked protests from nearly 100 onlookers, has outraged Democratic lawmakers who have spent days decrying the White House for deploying the D.C. National Guard and seizing control of the Metropolitan Police Department. An administration official told NOTUS that it was an “MPD-led special operations division checkpoint as part of ongoing anti-crime efforts.”
As the takeover has unfolded, Democrats are increasingly pointing to the development as evidence of a slide into authoritarianism — and they aren’t bashful about comparing the nation’s capital to its historic adversaries.
“Donald Trump has turned Washington, D.C., into North Korea,” Rep. Eric Swalwell told NOTUS. “Masked, unidentified agents are terrorizing the public in service to an aspiring dictator’s thirst for unlimited power.”
“We can’t be silent,” he continued. “We must be louder and larger in size than they are and send a message that we are better than this.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called Huffman and Swalwell “out-of-touch elitists who have no idea what problems average Americans deal with on a daily basis, including the crime crisis plaguing American cities.”
“In addition to being factually inaccurate,” she continued in a statement, “their absurd comments are dismissive and insulting to actual victims of authoritarian rulers around the world – no one in their right mind would seriously compare the President’s efforts to address violent crime to North Korea, unless, of course, they were suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
Republican lawmakers, thrilled to add more headlines and social media clips to boost their “law and order” midterms messaging, have largely cheered the president on — or kept quiet.
Conservative Rep. Andy Biggs, who is currently running for governor in Arizona, told NOTUS that D.C. “is an example of a Democrat-run city that is ridden with crime.”
“I support what President Trump is doing,” he said.
Biggs even told NOTUS that he plans to introduce legislation that would extend Trump’s MPD takeover from 30 days to six months. (Because Trump declared a state of emergency, he can legally control MPD for 30 days, but would then need two-thirds of the House and Senate’s approval to extend his command.)
Biggs’ proposal would amend the underlying law — the 1973 D.C. Home Rule Act — to change the 30 days to six months. That way, Trump could extend his control of MPD with a simple majority in the House and 60 votes in the Senate, according to Biggs.
“I expect unanimity in the House,” he said. “And there should be unanimity in the Senate. You should actually have Democrats who do acknowledge that, ‘Yeah, it’s a huge problem that needs to be done.’”
Rep. Andy Ogles announced Wednesday that he is introducing similar legislation that would extend Trump’s control of MPD indefinitely.
As far as Trump’s execution of his D.C. crime crackdown, Biggs was supportive.
Although he said he was unfamiliar with the checkpoint incident until NOTUS raised it, Biggs defended the strategy, calling checkpoints “constitutional,” citing a 1990 Supreme Court decision on sobriety checkpoints.
“So one of the rationales for that is it’s not a right to drive on a public road — I’m not saying whether that’s a good thing or bad thing — I’m just saying that’s kind of the state of the law,” he said. “It’s a privilege. And so if it’s a privilege, then they can stop.”
“I don’t know what’s really going on with the extent and the rationale behind it,” he continued, “but what I do know is this: D.C. is a mess crimewise, and already, people are telling me that they feel more safe and secure there than they’ve felt in years.”
Leading Democrats, however, dispute that Trump’s effort has anything to do with making D.C. safer.
In a statement on Thursday, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, said Trump’s crackdown was a distraction from an unflattering Jeffrey Epstein and economic news cycle.
“President Trump’s decision to deploy more than 1,000 military troops onto the streets of our nation’s capital is an unnecessary stunt,” Garcia said. “And it is 100% politically motivated.”
But with Congress out of session until Sept. 2, there’s little Democratic lawmakers can do to stop Trump beyond raising the alarm.
“Over-militarization in D.C. or in any other city that Trump has threatened — like Oakland, my district — will not make us safer,” Rep. Lateefah Simon told NOTUS. “Safety comes from trust, collaboration, and accountability — not through the militarization of our streets.”