President Donald Trump is being sued over his military takeover of Washington, D.C., as ICE rolls out new vehicles with gold branding in the city’s streets.
On Monday, the commander-in-chief signed an executive order federalizing the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deploying National Guard troops to the Capital in an unprecedented crackdown on crime.
Trump’s order temporarily takes control of MPD away from Mayor Muriel Bowser, while asserting emergency powers over D.C. under the Home Rule Act.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit on Friday morning challenging the president’s use of his emergency powers.
‘The Administration’s actions are brazenly unlawful,’ Schwalb said in a statement. The lawsuit against the administration was filed in the District Court in D.C.
‘They go well beyond the bounds of the President’s limited authority and instead seek a hostile takeover of [the Metropolitan Police Department].’
Schwalb goes on to describe Trump’s takeover as ‘an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call D.C. home.’
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday evening rescinded ‘sanctuary city’ protections in D.C.
‘D.C. will not remain a sanctuary city. Actively shielding criminal aliens will not happen,’ Bondi told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday night.
The D.C. attorney general’s office filed the suit against the Trump administration hours after Bondi ordered D.C.’s Chief of Police Pamela Smith to hand over her policing authority to Drug Enforcement official Terry Cole.
Bowser, who has cooperated with the administration since the start of the takeover, called the order unlawful and told Smith she is not ‘obligated to follow it.’
Trump, Bondi, the Department, Cole and the Drug Enforcement Administration are named in the lawsuit.
Schwalb’s lawsuit asks the federal judge to vacate Bondi’s order and stop the administration from further attempts ‘to direct local law enforcement activities.’
The suit also argues Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional because it violates the separation of powers.
Trump has sent in more than 800 National Guard troops into D.C over the course of the week, along with Border Patrol and ICE agents.
On Thursday, ICE unveiled new vehicles branded in gold colors with the agency’s logo and name across D.C.’s streets.
‘We will have our country back,’ DHS wrote X post after posting pictures of the flashy new vehicles.
The DHS’s bold new PR campaign comes as over 100 arrests have been made since the administration launched the crime crackdown.