Detroit/Seattle Workers' Voice mailing list
September 7, 2025
Trump occupies D.C. and accelerates the attack on immigrants
by Pete Brown,
Detroit Workers’ Voice
In August President Trump revived his attacks on immigrants in the Los Angeles area. But his most substantial move was into Washington, D.C., where Trump took over the police department and declared that Washington’s role as a sanctuary city was dead. After a federal judge placed some limitations on Trump’s takeover and what he could order the police to do, Trump called in National Guard troops to do much of the patrolling. Back in June, Trump’s excuse for calling troops into Los Angeles was the militant demonstrations against ICE. But for Washington, he couldn’t use that as an excuse. So now he uses the phony excuse that crime is out of control. And he says he will be expanding the use of federal troops in other cities, beginning with Chicago.
Polls show a majority of Americans disapprove of ICE’s notorious raids. Aside from polls, anecdotal evidence shows people are appalled. Every time ICE agents appear, crowds gather to denounce them, hurling abuse at them. Facebook videos abound with videos showing community people chasing ICE out of their neighborhoods, chanting “ICE get out!” Trump and VP Vance can’t appear in public anymore without people surrounding and yelling abuse at them. And this is aside from the organized mass demonstrations that have repeatedly denounced Trump and his administration for their policies and crimes. Large street demonstrations against the occupation have occurred regularly in Washington since Trump’s takeover.
But Trump still maintains the support of his MAGA base, and many people are confused about immigration, sympathetic to some immigrants but also supportive of some of Trump’s policies at the border. So Trump is not likely to modify his policies. Originally announced as a campaign against criminals, Trump’s policy has expanded to arresting any undocumented immigrants, including those who are perfectly law abiding. Some American citizens have also been deported, and Trump threatens to denaturalize and deport more.
And Trump has announced his intention to send troops into other cities, just like Washington. So, get ready, America: Troops will soon be standing on your local street corner. It’s illegal, but the Supreme Court is stacked with right-wingers eager to please Trump. Conservative justices on the Supreme Court used to call themselves “strict constructionists” and say they adhered to the “original intent” of the Founding Fathers. But now they’ve jettisoned any pretense at theory, ideology or precedent; their only rule is, “The Trump administration always wins.”
Trump himself follows the rule, “When you lie, LIE BIG.” He continues to say he called in the troops to occupy Washington because of crime. But Washington’s crime rate has been falling for years, just like the rest of the country. Actually, a major aim of the takeover was to quash Washington’s reputation as a sanctuary city whose police did not help enforce federal immigration law. When federal agents moved in, the first thing they did was to start harassing food delivery drivers, a largely immigrant workforce. Then, if they proved to be undocumented immigrants, they were sent to detention prior to deportation. This is illegal, picking on people based solely on their occupation, not because of any criminal investigation. Similarly, agents rounded up the residents of homeless encampments and deported any undocumented people they found there – not because of any criminal activity, but because they happened to be at a certain location. Lower level federal judges have previously condemned these kinds of arrests, but Trump’s troops are flouting the law in D.C., and he can rest easy knowing he has the Supreme Court backing him.
Picture: the “We are all DC” protest against the National Guard in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 6, 2025:
https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/ste ... rotest.jpg .
