D.C. Councilman on Arrests by Federal Agents: They Were with Police, Which Already Arrests People 

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” D.C. City Councilman Charles Allen (D) stated that the arrests made by federal agents in the city “were arrests made with” the city’s police, which already arrests people.

Allen said that “bringing in members of the military, bringing in federal law enforcement does not make our city safer, and it’s dangerous. And I think that the only reason it’s happening here in D.C. is simply because it can. We don’t have the same type of rights. We don’t have statehood. We don’t have members in Congress. And the president is able to control our city the same way he may be trying to control other cities in the very near future.”

Co-host Pamela Brown then asked, “So, you say it doesn’t make D.C. safer. The administration says more than 20 people were arrested on Monday for homicide, firearms offenses, stalking, possession of a high-capacity magazine, and more. These were arrests by federal agents that they put on the streets. So, what do you say to residents of D.C. who point to that and say, well, actually this is making us safer?”

Allen answered, “Well, those were arrests made with MPD, and every night, every day, MPD is out in community. They make arrests, and they are working hard to make our city safer. If what we were actually talking about is a stronger partnership between the federal government, then I think that would be a different conversation. But this isn’t a conversation. This is about control. There are any numbers, of way[s] that we partner with and work with federal agencies every single day. That’s not what’s happening here. If they truly wanted to make a difference, what you’d see is the federal government working to make sure that judges, for our courts, in D.C., which are federally run, for our local courts, we have a 20, 25% vacancy of our judges. They can only come from appointments from the president and confirmed by the Senate, yet, they’re not doing it. There are so many ways the federal government could be a good partner. This is not that.”

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