Washington continues to block the federal takeover of his police service as the repression intensifies

The head of the Washington police department said that a Trump administration order installing a federal official because his head would upset the command structure and constitutes a “dangerous” threat to law and order. The declaration of the police chief, Pamela Smith, came to a judicial file while the city seeks to block the federal takeover of his police service before the court.

Washington’s highest legal official asked for an emergency prohibition order in the Federal Court blocking a Trump administration decision to pay a federal official in charge of his police. The Attorney General of the Columbia District, Brian Schwalb, argues that the police takeover is illegal and threatens to “wreak operational ravages”.

The trial comes after the American prosecutor General Pam Bondi said Thursday evening that the boss of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Terry Cole, will take on the functions of the police chief and the approval authority for any prescription for officers. We did not know where the move had left the current city police chief, Smith, who works for the mayor.

Schwalb maintains that the new order goes beyond the authority of Trump and by implementing the “chaos” in the metropolitan police service. “The illegal actions of the administration are an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC at home. It is the most serious threat to the rule at home that the district has ever faced, and we are fighting to stop it,” said Schwalb.

The Ministry of Justice refused to comment on the district trial, and a White House spokesman did not immediately respond to messages asking for comments on Friday morning.

Police take control is Trump’s last decision to test the limits of his judicial authorities to carry out his program, based on obscure statutes and a state of emergency supposed to strengthen his difficult message on crime and his plans to accelerate the mass deportation of people in the United States illegally.

It also marks one of the most radical affirmations of the federal authority on a local government in modern times. While Washington faced visible peaks of violence and homelessness, the city’s homicide rate ranks below those of several other major American cities, and the capital is not prey to the collapse of public security that the Trump administration has described.

The chief had agreed to share information on immigration

Schwalb said late Thursday Thursday that the Bondi directive was “illegal”, arguing that it could not be followed by the city’s police. He wrote in a memo to Smith that “MPD members should continue to follow your orders and not the orders of an official not appointed by the mayor”, setting up the legal confrontation between the strongly democratic district and the republican administration.

The District Attorney General is an elected post and the best legal official in the city. He is separated from the American federal lawyer appointed by the president to serve Washington, a role now fulfilled by the former animator of Fox News Channel and judges Jeanine Pirro. Trump also appointed Bondi as an American Attorney General, the highest official of the law enforcement.

The Bondi directive came even after Smith told MPD officers a few hours earlier to share information with immigration agencies concerning people who were not in detention, such as a person involved in a traffic stop or a checkpoint. The Ministry of Justice said that Bondi did not agree with the directive of the police chief because it allowed the continuous application of “sanctuary policies”, which generally limit cooperation by local police with federal immigration agents.

Bondi declared that it canceled this order as well as other MPD policies limiting surveys on immigration status and preventing arrests based solely on federal immigration mandates. All new directives must now receive Cole approval, said the Attorney General.

The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, postponed Thursday, writing on social networks that “there is no status that transmits the district staff authority to a federal official”.

The president has more power over the national capital than other cities, but DC has elected his own mayor and municipal council since the signing of the law on the rules of domicile in 1973.

Trump is the first president to exercise control over the city’s police forces since his adoption. The law limits this control to 30 days without approval from the congress, although Trump suggested that he will seek to extend it. Schwalb maintains that the role of the president is close under the law, limited to the obligation of the mayor that they provide police services for federal purposes.

Residents see a significant demonstration

A population already stretched by the days of rise has started to see more important shows throughout the city. The troops of the National Guard have watched over some of the most renowned monuments in the world and Humvees took a position in front of the animated main station. The volunteers helped the homeless leave long -standing camps – to which were often clear.

Police from the Ministry of Internal Security stood in front of the Nationals Park in a match Thursday between the Nationals of Washington and the Philadelphia Phillies. DEA agents patrolled on the platform, a popular area of nightlife, while the secret service agents were seen in the lower misty district.

Bowser, walking a stiff rope between the Republican White House and the district of his largely democratic city, was outside the city on Thursday for a family commitment in the Martha vineyard but would be back on Friday, said his office.

The rise in the visibility of the city’s federal forces, including in many very trafficic areas, has struck residents who have made their lives. Trump has the power to regain federal police forces for 30 days before his actions were examined by the Congress, although he declared that he would reassess the approach of this deadline.

The agents have set up a control point in one of the DC popular night areas, drawing demonstrations. The troops were parked outside the Union station transport center while the 800 members of the guard who were activated by Trump began in missions which include the safety of monuments, community security patrols and embellishment, said the Pentagon.

The troops will help the police in various roles, including traffic control posts and crowd control, said Micah Maxwell, Major of the National Guard. The members of the guard were trained in de -escalation tactics and the crowd control equipment, said Maxwell.

The troops of the National Guard are a semi-Regular presence at DC, generally used during mass public events as the annual celebration of July 4. They have been used regularly in the past to control crowds in and around metro stations.