In a collective bargaining agreement signed Sept. 2, many local activists and residents argue that District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser has handed President Donald Trump control of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), issuing an order that keeps federal officers embedded in the city even after the president’s 30-day National Guard deployment was set to expire.
Instead of resisting, Bowser signed up to continue cooperation, a move critics say shows she offered no fight to protect D.C.’s autonomy and no defense of the residents she was elected to represent.
Trump used the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to seize authority over the MPD last month, claiming “special conditions of an emergency nature” justified the takeover. His order was about to lapse, but Bowser stepped in with her own directive requiring D.C. law enforcement to work with federal officers “to the maximum extent allowable by law within the District.”
“This order will provide the pathway forward beyond the presidential emergency,” said Bowser, who also recently announced more funding for MPD officers. “Working with the federal government allows us to advance shared priorities.”
Before the surge, Bowser said crime in the city was already falling. Yet last week she credited the federal takeover for an 87% drop in carjackings and a 45% decline in violent crime. Her words raised the question: if Trump’s move produced the drop, was Bowser misleading residents when she had earlier insisted crime was trending downward on her watch?
Despite many questioning the mayor’s move, she insisted her order “does not extend the presidential emergency.”
“It does the exact opposite. It lays out a framework to exit this period,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “I want the message to be clear to the Congress: We have a framework, and we don’t need a presidential emergency.”
Local Leaders Push Back on Mayoral Order
However, members of the D.C. Council have accused Bowser of providing cover for Trump’s authoritarian agenda.
“Our mayor’s words are now being used to justify harmful federal overreach in cities nationwide,” said Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5).
Parker also noted the importance of “resisting creeping authoritarianism” and warned Democrats not to “legitimize an illegitimate agenda.”
Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1) described the federal surge in grim terms.
“D.C. is under siege from the federal government, with armed military patrolling our streets and masked agents scooping up neighbors,” she said.
Nadeau added that “residents are afraid, hesitant to go out and to work, angry that our limited autonomy is being eroded.”
At-large Councilmember Robert White (D), said Bowser’s words sent the wrong signal.
“We should not, as the District of Columbia, be giving people the impression that this is a good thing,” he said, adding that the federal surge “is not helping the city” and called it “trampling on democracy in real time.”
In an op-ed submitted to The Washington Informer, Rep. Oye Owolewa, D.C.’s shadow representative, expressed his extreme disappointment not only about the mayor’s collective bargaining agreement, but her responses to federal pressures throughout the year.
“Rather than join the rest of us in fighting back, Mayor Bowser has decided to make deals with the White House to live another day. This year alone, our mayor ripped up Black Lives Matter Plaza, walked back the District’s sanctuary city status to protect non citizens, removed 25,000 working class people off D.C. Medicaid and criminalized homelessness by arresting unhoused Washingtonians,” he said. “In return, we have received virtually nothing. We still have $1.1 Billion of our money held ransom by Congress and today National Guardsmen are being overpaid to clean parks all while D.C. faces the highest unemployment rates in our country.”
Activists Say Bowser ‘Reinforced’ Trump’s Harmful Plan
For activists, Bowser’s decision confirmed long-held doubts about her leadership.
“D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser shows what’s wrong with the Democrats: they parade as champions of POC (people of color), then cave to white supremacy at the first chance, choosing career over true resistance,” popular social media user and activist Jean Jacques Dessalines wrote on X.
D.C.-based organizations that advocate for the rights of Black and Brown communities have responded to the mayor’s announcement, including: Advancement Project, Black Swan Academy, DC Girls’ Coalition, EmpowerEd, CARE Anacostia, Anti-Racist DC, DC Action, The T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project, Guns Down Friday, Crowns Inc. and Critical Exposure.
“Mayor Bowser just reinforced Trump’s harmful plan, using ‘public safety’ as an excuse to endanger our communities. After years of being blamed and criminalized for simply being young, Black youth in D.C. now face even greater danger. This executive order extends, escalates, and normalizes a militarized police state in the District,” the organizations wrote in a statement.
Bowser’s decision comes as she also promised to raise the wages for MPD officers, a move many critics say only furthers challenges.
“At a time when our safety nets are on their last legs [the extra funding] diverts essential resources from the community directly into the pockets of those terrorizing our neighbors. Black youth and immigrant communities will continue to disproportionately suffer the worst consequences of these heartless policies,” the D.C.-based organizations continued.
Source: Published without changes from Washington Informer Newspaper
