D.C. mayor and police chief step aside after backlash over Trump’s crime crackdown : NPR
The mayor and police chief of Washington, D.C., called it quits after their handling of President Trump’s immigration crackdown came under fire.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Civic leaders are stepping down just months after President Trump flooded the city with federal agents and took temporary control of its police force. From member station WAMU, Alex Koma reports on the backlash city officials have faced.
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UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (chanting) Bowser, Bowser, you are a traitor.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: (chanting) Bowser, Bowser, you are a traitor.
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTER: (singing) This term is your last as mayor.
ALEX KOMA, BYLINE: This recent protest in downtown Washington against Mayor Muriel Bowser shows the criticism she’s faced since President Trump sent in hundreds of federal agents and National Guard troops this summer. Bowser wasn’t a fan of Trump’s crackdown on crime, but she was mostly focused on appeasing the administration rather than antagonizing it. She says this approach was necessary to ward off attacks on Washington, DC’s limited autonomy.
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MURIEL BOWSER: We were faced with unprecedented action by a president. We found a way to get through it, and we got through it.
KOMA: She has succeeded in protecting the city’s autonomy, but many are frustrated that she has not cracked down more forcefully on Trump’s actions, particularly his crackdown on immigration. Other local politicians, from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, have taken a more confrontational approach. Zach Teutsch is a progressive activist in the city. He says Bowser’s quiet response to the president’s actions in Washington has been alarming, particularly because local police have been spotted assisting ICE and other federal agencies.
ZACH TEUTSCH: She had a choice to stand up for the people of Washington, DC and help all of us protect our neighbors from unjust searches and seizures. And instead, she chose to be complicit in oppression and facilitate the removal of our neighbors from the streets.
KOMA: And much of that anger has also been directed at the city’s police chief, Pamela Smith. She has repeatedly denied that local police coordinate directly with ICE, but has authorized more communications with immigration officials when her agents encounter undocumented immigrants. This policy is counterproductive, believes Vanessa Batters-Thompson. She directs the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice.
VANESSA BATTERS-THOMPSON: We are living in a moment where our efforts to become a community-oriented police force have taken a major setback.
KOMA: With this growing pressure, the mayor and chief now say they’re moving on. Bowser will not seek re-election next year, while Smith will resign at the end of this month for personal reasons. Both leaders deny that Trump’s actions played a role in their decisions. Bowser, for example, says she is ready to leave after three terms.
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BOWSER: The fourth term is kind of free for me. We have established a big program. We kept our word. And the ability to continue winning is becoming more and more difficult.
KOMA: Meanwhile, Police Chief Smith is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for allegedly trying to make the city’s crime statistics look rosier than they really are. Smith denies doing it. Pam Keith is an attorney who has repeatedly sued the DC Police Department. She has had disagreements with Bowser and Smith, but she sees a racial component to the resignations. Both are black women, and she says Trump’s attacks on black leaders across the country are hard to ignore.
PAM KEITH: There was a movement going on. I just knew it was a matter of time.
KOMA: These black leaders tried to appease Trump, but Keith says they still couldn’t avoid his wrath. Their departure set the stage for a citywide debate over whether to continue Bowser’s conciliatory approach or fight more forcefully against Trump. So far, the only candidate in next year’s mayoral race vocally adheres to the latter approach, D.C. Council Member Janeese Lewis George. Like Mamdani in New York, she is a democratic socialist.
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JANEESE LEWIS GEORGE: We must stand up and defend our residents – and all our residents – in the District of Columbia.
KOMA: That means next year’s June primaries will be an early test of how confrontational D.C. Democrats are willing to be with the president as the midterm elections approach.
For NPR News, I’m Alex Koma in Washington, D.C.
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