Washington, D.C. — In response to Trump ordering the deployment of the National Guard to D.C. and Attorney General Pam Bondi to oversee the federal takeover of the capital’s Metropolitan Police Department despite the fact violent crime in D.C. last year was at a thirty year low, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) issued the following statement from LCV President Pete Maysmith:

“Deploying the National Guard and taking over the police force in the nation’s capital is a direct attack on our freedoms and the safety of our communities, especially the Black and brown communities who have been historically targeted by force. Instead of making our communities safer, this administration is instituting a political power grab that could harm our families and communities. The military should not be used to intimidate our communities and undermine local authority in order to help fulfill Trump’s extreme and inhumane immigration policies and harm our civil rights — especially given the recent deployment of armed forces in Los Angeles and today’s threat by Trump to expand this to other cities.

Just one month after gutting critical funding from programs that would have actually protected the health and safety of people across the country and after cutting $1 billion from D.C.’s budget, Trump is wasting our federal and local resources and is using military members against their own communities. The Trump administration’s extreme and politicized Justice Department cannot be trusted with good faith law enforcement — they must get their hands off of D.C., and Congress must immediately grant D.C. its long-overdue statehood.”

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