President Donald Trump urged Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to continue to allow the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
Trump made the comments early Monday morning in a post to his Truth Social account after Bowser suggested last week that the MPD would no longer help ICE. He touted the improvements made in D.C. due to the president’s order, stressing a citywide improvement in security and safety.
“The Federal Government, under my auspices as President of the United States of America, has stepped into the complete criminal mess that was Washington, D.C., our Nation’s Capital,” Trump posted. “Because of this, D.C. has gone from one of the most dangerous and murder ridden cities in the U.S.A., and even around the World, to one of the safest – In just a few weeks. The ‘place’ is absolutely booming, with restaurants, stores, and businesses packed and, for the first time in decades, virtually NO CRIME.”
Trump then blamed “radical Democrats” for Bowser’s pivot from the interagency cooperation in D.C. that has helped lower violent crime.
“It has been a beautiful thing to watch but, now, under pressure from the Radical Left Democrats, Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has presided over this violent criminal takeover of our Capital for years, has informed the Federal Government that the Metropolitan Police Department will no longer cooperate with ICE in removing and relocating dangerous illegal aliens,” Trump said. “If I allowed this to happen, CRIME would come roaring back.”
The president then said he would declare a “national emergency” if need be and “federalize the capital city. Trump emphasized that he would not abandon the “people and businesses” in the city if Bowser ordered such a thing.
“To the people and businesses of Washington, D.C., DON’T WORRY, I AM WITH YOU, AND WON’T ALLOW THIS TO HAPPEN,” Trump added. “I’ll call a National Emergency, and Federalize, if necessary!!!”
The president’s comments came days after Bowser said that the DC Metropolitan Police Department would no longer cooperate with ICE officers after Trump’s original 30-day emergency order to take control of the city’s police expired.
“Immigration enforcement is not what MPD does. And with the end of the emergency, it won’t be what MPD does in the future,” said Bowser.
Trump invoked Section 740 of the Home Rule Act on Aug. 11 when he declared a crime emergency in Washington, D.C. This provision granted him 30 days to federalize the MPD if “special conditions of an emergency nature exist which require the use of the Metropolitan Police force for Federal purposes.” The 30 days of control expire on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 11:59 p.m. After that date and time, the MPD will no longer cooperate with ICE.
“It goes with the emergency, and the emergency is over,” she said.