Can the president really temporarily federalize the Washington, D.C., police force in an effort to reduce the rampant crime occurring in the city? Is that actually legal?
President Donald Trump has sent Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and hundreds of National Guard troops into Washington to “pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the district who breaks the law, undermines public safety, and endangers law-abiding Americans,” according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
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The move was welcomed by the police union chief, who said that the union “supports the president’s announcement … to assume temporary control of the MPD [Metropolitan Police Department] in response to the escalating crime crisis in Washington, D.C.”
However, Mayor Muriel Bowser seemed less enthusiastic when she said it was “unsettling and unprecedented” and stated, “My message to residents is this: We know that access to our democracy is tenuous.”
The Daily Signal spoke with former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security and Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli about the president’s actions, what they can accomplish, and their possible repercussions.
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