Interfaith Alliance Joins Civil Rights Organizations Opposing DC Policing Takeover

Interfaith Alliance Joins Civil Rights Organizations Opposing DC Policing Takeover

On August 15th, Interfaith Alliance joined 125 other organizations to express concern over President Trump’s decision to assert control over the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and to deploy the National Guard throughout the city. Rather than helping to protect DC communities, this decision represents a terrifying instance of executive overreach to amass political power and to undermine our democracy.  

The letter states: 

On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and the 126 undersigned organizations, we write to express our profound concerns with the recent decision by President Trump to assert control over the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and to deploy the National Guard throughout the city. This unprecedented and needless takeover of a local government’s law enforcement mechanisms poses a dire threat to public safety as well as to civil and human rights, not only of the people who live in D.C., but ultimately throughout the entire country.

In the place of proven strategies aimed at reducing and preventing crime, President Trump’s decision to commandeer the police and fill the streets with National Guard service members – who are not trained to act as police officers – is not simply a matter of political theater and distraction. It also poses a dire threat to longstanding efforts to foster trust between the police and the communities they serve, especially in light of President Trump’s claim that he would allow the police under his command to “do whatever the hell they want,” raising concerns that the civil rights of D.C. residents may be sacrificed in the process.

President Trump has once again declared a false emergency to access executive powers that were not meant to be used as political tools to amass power. It is a terrible precedent that could harm cities, communities, and people well beyond D.C. What he is able to achieve in D.C., he will try to do elsewhere. He has already threatened to do the same in other major cities around the country.

The simple fact is that President Trump is not seriously interested in reducing crime. He is interested in misleading about crime to justify abhorrent practices, including rapid expansion of criminalization, unprecedented abuses by federal law enforcement agents, and dangerous executive power grabs. Time and time again, he has shown that his real goal is to create a police state, as he has repeatedly weaponized law enforcement to quash dissent and to serve his own personal and political ends. 

The federal government should respect the laws and policies of D.C. enacted via its democratically elected government. Instead, D.C. is an easy testing ground for President Trump, because while its residents pay federal taxes and comply with all the other duties of citizenship, they have no vote in Congress and limited control over their own local governance. Given his record to date, it would be naïve to think that President Trump will stop there. We urge you to ensure that our rights under the Constitution and under our federal laws are being fully protected and enforced.”