DC leaders push back on Trump's 'public safety emergency' before Oversight Committee

They said the surge undermines public trust and threatens the D.C.'s autonomy.

Washington, D.C.'s top elected leaders on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump's federal law enforcement surge has undermined public trust and threatened the city's autonomy, even as they pressed Congress to help the District rebuild its police force and fill critical judicial vacancies.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and Attorney General Brian Schwalb told the House Oversight Committee that while crime rates have fallen to 30-year lows, the city still needs long-term federal support, not armed National Guard patrols. All three leaders urged Congress to fund new facilities, confirm judges, and back efforts to restore the Metropolitan Police Department's ranks to nearly 4,000 officers.

Both Mendelson and Schwalb criticized the effectiveness and legality of the federal surge.

"As the nation's capital, public safety in the District has always required a strong working partnership with federal law enforcement, regardless of who is in the White House," Schwalb said. "Declarations of emergency and unilateral federal actions, taken without coordination or advance warning, do not promote long-term public safety."

"Sending masked agents in unmarked cars to pick people up off the streets; flooding our neighborhoods with armed national guardsmen untrained in local policing; attempting a federal takeover of our police force -- none of these are durable, lasting solutions for driving down crime," the D.C. attorney general added. "In fact, this threatens to destroy critical trust between local communities and police, which is essential to effective, efficient policing and prosecution."

Mendelson called the emergency declaration "a manufactured crime crisis to justify an intrusion on the District's autonomy."

At a time when violent crime is at the lowest rate we've seen in 30 years, there is no federal emergency that the District needs the president to address," he said, adding that National Guard troops lack law-enforcement training and have instead been "picking up trash and doing landscaping."

Schwalb also pushed back against claims that juveniles offenders are not being prosecuted. He said his office brought charges in 84% of all violent youth cases last year, which included more than 90% of homicides, 87% of carjackings and 86% of gun cases.

All three officials urged Congress to help address longstanding vacancies on the D.C. courts and to fund a new psychiatric residential treatment facility for youth.

Marking the upcoming 250th anniversary of the U.S., Bowser said, "We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the nation's capital to be the safest and most beautiful it's been at any point in its history, not just for our residents, but for the millions of Americans who will come to Washington, D.C., to celebrate our country's heritage."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.