August 22, 2025

“There is no takeover,” Mayor Muriel Bowser uttered in a press conference on the night of Monday, August 18. By Wednesday evening, the mayor and MPD Police Chief Pamela Smith were smiling and shaking hands with Trump’s favorite pet, Stephen Miller.

The initial invasion of DC, launched last week by President Trump in a naked power grab, flooded DC’s streets with armed federal agents. Their stated objective was to stop crime. In reality, the forces escorted agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement around the city to attack the vulnerable and launch a shock and awe campaign designed to pacify the city through fear. Throughout the week, the nation watched harrowing videos emerge from the District: a disabled immigrant rammed with a vehicle; parishioners abducted on their way to mass; a delivery driver sucker punched on their way to work; homeless folks ripped from encampments and marched to shelters already at capacity; checkpoints erected spontaneously to grow and develop an unaccountable dragnet; messages of solidarity ripped down and mocked; bystanders threatened with arrest and assault.

Senseless violence. State torture. Force as spectacle. This is fascism. The occupying forces’ hit-squad tactics may be overlooked to a certain kind of upper class resident of the city. But there is no escaping the cost of this outrageous terrorism. As increasingly audacious methods of state violence are normalized, nihilism and sadism will grow across the government and society, creating a despondent and sociopathic population. Materially, these wasteful incursions reduce state capacity to address the actual sources of poverty and violence that plague American life. This unchecked rot will spread with time, bearing increasingly high costs to the life of working-class people. This is the nature of all austerity regimes, which require compounding levels of violence and corruption to maintain.

Mutual aid networks, tenant and labor unions, immigrant rights groups, and homeless advocacy organizations rapidly initiated defense protocols to fascist repression. But many were left wondering: where is the DC government? An expose published by the Washington Post answered that question. Despite secret discussions held by the Council, Mayor Bowser, Attorney General Brian Schwalb and senior administrators, the DC government failed to cohere a response to Trump’s attack on DC autonomy. Police Chief Smith seemed to disappear entirely, shocking even MPD officers. Although the DC government eventually filed a lawsuit to contest Trump’s formal sequester of the police department, no steps have been taken to functionally limit federal control. Several councilmembers have even mused open collaboration with the occupying forces. On national radio, at-large Councilmember Henderson openly welcomed coordination with the occupying forces. The sacrifice of immigrants, civil liberties, the poor and District autonomy are all seen as fair tributes in the eyes of DC’s myopic political elite.

Locally, hope lies in the popular front summoned from DC’s working-class enclaves. In reaction to federal assault, organizer networks have formed communication chains to rapidly coordinate neighborhood response to federal attack and intervention. These networks have culminated in ripostes against federal assault, producing several heroic maneuvers over the past week. Just a few spotted:

• Columbia Heights: A rapid mobilization chased ICE out of the neighborhood on Tuesday night. After notice was issued of ICE presence, the community mounted sustained pressure against the officers patrolling our streets, shouting and following the feds until they fled the scene.
• The movement surged to DC Jail to rally support for local activist Afeni, who stood up to police harassment of youth and was pepper sprayed, slammed to the ground, and arrested before being released last Saturday.
• Locals are rooting out undercover agents in our communities.
• Vice President JD Vance and Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth were booed and showered with chants of “Free DC” during a craven photo-op at Union Station.
• Several rallies on U Street have demonstrated mass opposition to the occupying forces.
• Behind the scenes, clandestine anti-fascist networks have developed community patrols to identify, communicate and document federal activity.

This federal assault must not be normalized; the time to get involved is now. This Saturday, August 23 at 6pm, comrades and community members will take a stand for our youth and our communities with a rally and cop watch at 14th and U Streets: standing against Trump’s takeover of the city and defending Black youth, immigrants, and the unhoused. Bring signs and noisemakers. Sign up for the mass rally here. Can’t attend but want to get involved in the fight? Fill out this interest form.

MORE RESOURCES AND ACTIONS: Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, one of the few voices in DC government trying to halt the appeasement strategy, has created a Federal Enforcement Incident Report form for Ward 4. DC Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid has a hotline for ICE sightings, know your rights materials, and resources for community members. The DC Safety Squad is running We Keep Us Safe Wednesdays, sharing political education information on Instagram and guidance to travel together.