As Trump sends in the troops, the US capital feels like it’s creeping towards a tipping point
The headlines these past few weeks have focused on the National Guard deployed by the American president to the streets of Washington DC.
With combat rifles and armoured vehicles, they are an effective visual for Donald Trump.
They neatly project his power. But they are a distraction too.
Donald Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Washington DC. Pic: Reuters
While the troops may, for his supporters, represent hard presidential power in a Democrat-run city perceived to be out of control, they are not actually fighting crime (nor are they the right tool to do that) and they are not focused on the nation’s immigration challenges.
This week, they were spotted collecting litter in downtown DC.
Yet Trump’s law, order, and crime agenda has many strands which represent an unprecedented extension of presidential authority. Two weeks ago, at the White House, he told America what to expect.
Protests in Washington DC following the deployment of National Guard troops. Pics: Reuters
“We’re going to take our capital back; we’re going to take it back,” he said.
“Massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers and criminal networks to get them the hell off the street, maybe get them out of the country because a lot of them came into our country illegally.
“They shouldn’t have been allowed in. They come from Venezuela. They come from all over the world. We’re going to get them the hell out. They won’t be here long.”
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Trump: National Guard deployment will ‘take capital back’
The real story is going on beyond the National Guard photo-op.
On Tuesday morning, I set out to see what this sweeping new presidential power really looks like on the streets of America’s capital city. I didn’t expect that it would take five minutes and a drive of just a few blocks to find what appears to be a new normal.
The neighbourhood of Mount Pleasant is a couple of miles north of the White House.
It’s a proudly multicultural and multi-income part of the city. In that sense, it’s somewhat unusual. Washington is mostly a city of bubbles – where different communities are distinct, and the wealth gap is vast.
Turning off 17th Street, the flashing lights were ahead. It was just after 7am. This residential neighbourhood had been awoken this particular morning by the sound of a commotion which was unfolding in front of me.
A construction truck had been pulled over by unmarked police vehicles. Three Latino men had been taken out, handcuffed and were in the process of being taken to the police cars.
Sky News witnessed several men being detained
‘You’re the Gestapo’
It was an immigration raid. The men had been detained because they were not able to prove, on demand, as they went to work, whether they were in the country legally.
Locals, drawn out of their houses, shouted at the federal agents from ICE – the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
“Shame, shame, shame. You’re the Gestapo… why are you doing this,” they shouted.
“These are hardworking people,” one neighbour said of the men detained.
“These people work in our neighbourhood. They work in our restaurants. They’re our neighbours. They are taking hardworking people away, not criminals.”
“I’m feeling devastated for those men who were just ripped out of their lives unceremoniously,” another neighbour told me. “I’m feeling scared for my neighbours who are afraid to leave their house because they’re afraid of exactly that happening.”
“This is not making our city safe,” her partner added, his young children crying in his arms. “Pulling out workers who are an essential member of our community and being like, ‘oh, that makes DC a better place’. It doesn’t.”
Local residents are angry about how their neighbours are being treated
The surge of federal law enforcement agents into America’s capital has been unprecedented, and their powers are too.
Using presidential authority and harnessing the unique status of Washington as a district rather than a state, Trump has taken control of local law enforcement agencies in the city.
The city’s Metropolitan Police now answer to him, not to the local government, and are working alongside federal agencies.
In a recent statement, a spokesperson for ICE said: “We will support the re-establishment of law and order and public safety in DC, which includes taking drug dealers, gang members and criminal aliens off city streets.”
Here, in Mount Pleasant, this now includes taking people, speculatively, from their vehicles on their way to work.
Much of the enforcement is heavily armed
Twenty minutes later, whistles punctuated another moment of tension up the road.
Whistles are a new community tactic to alert people that ICE agents are in the area. Other innovative tactics include using the Waze Satnav system to report “icy streets” – in August.
On 16th Street, a small group of locals – commuters and local business owners among them – had gathered around a car with blacked-out windows. They had identified ICE agents inside.
An officer from the city’s Metropolitan Police arrived and asked what the commotion was about. The crowd told him about the ICE agents. He looked into the car, nodded, and retreated. He, too, was then jeered.
Read more:
The flashpoint in Trump’s deportations blitz
Sky’s Mark Stone had no luck in his attempts to ask questions about what he witnessed
‘This is not what we’re about’
In these neighbourhoods of overwhelmingly Democratic, left-leaning Washington DC, the mood feels edgy; not a tipping point, but creeping towards one, for sure.
“I don’t feel safer, I feel more policed,” one woman said.
A day later, a few streets away, another raid. Officers were staged at the entrance to an apartment block. Heavily armed, they appeared to be from various agencies and the city police too.
“I’m sick, this is not this country, this is not what we’re about. We’re a quiet community. It’s unbelievable we’ve come to this, unbelievable,” a woman of retirement age told me as she watched the commotion.
‘They are brutalising people’
When questioned, the officers wouldn’t confirm what their operation was about, but no one was detained and in the end they were literally shouted out of the street by locals. The anger was visceral.
“I’ve lived here for 47 years, and I’ve never seen anything like this,” another woman said.
“They are occupying the city and our neighbourhoods. They are brutalising people, they are taking people for no reason. We don’t want them here. This is a Donald Trump dominance performance.”
It is more than a performance, though.
If this is the plan for Democrat-run cities across the country, well then the weeks ahead look divisive indeed.
US
US blocks Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials from United Nations’ annual meeting in New York
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and 80 other officials have been blocked from attending September’s annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has revoked the US visas of delegates from the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), and denied others from applying for one.
It is the latest step by Donald Trump’s administration to target Palestinians with visa restrictions, and follows the suspension of a programme to allow injured children from Gaza to receive treatment in the US.
Mahmoud Abbas addressed the general assembly in 2024, but is barred from next month’s meeting. Pic: Reuters
“It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” a statement from the US State Department said.
It added that, to be considered partners for peace, both groups “must consistently repudiate terrorism, and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO”.
Offensive will cause ‘intolerable deaths’
Several US allies, including France, Malta, and Australia have announced plans to recognise Palestine as a state at September’s United Nations General Assembly. Canada and the UK will too, unless Israel meets certain conditions.
Israel declared Gaza’s largest city a dangerous combat zone on Friday.
The army launched a planned offensive that has drawn international condemnation.
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Thick smoke rises from Gaza City after Israeli strikes
Foreign ministers from Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia and Spain released a joint statement saying the military operations in Gaza City will cause “intolerable deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians”.
Gaza latest: Israel’s Gaza City offensive condemned
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering in Gaza City while enduring famine.
An Israeli armoured vehicle in northern Gaza on Friday. Pic: AP
Palestinians ride a truck carrying humanitarian aid in Gaza City. Pic: AP
The Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Riyad Mansour, said Mr Abbas had planned to lead the delegation to the UN meetings and was expected to address the general assembly at the general debate, which begins on 23 September.
He was also expected to attend a high-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on 22 September about a two-state solution, a broad idea involving Israel coexisting with an independent Palestinian state.
The State of Palestine is an observer member of the UN, meaning it can speak at meetings but not vote on resolutions.
The State of Palestine cannot vote on UN resolutions. Pic: AP
US decision ‘contravenes international law’
The Palestinian Authority “expressed its deep regret and astonishment” at the visa decision, calling it “a violation of US commitments” as the host of the UN, and claiming it “contravenes international law”.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body would be seeking clarification in the “hope that this will be resolved”.
Hundreds of diplomats left when Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu began speaking at the general assembly in 2024. Pic: Reuters
The State Department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN, comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.
Under a 1947 UN agreement, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York.
But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
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The death toll in Gaza has now risen to 63,025, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
It also reported five more malnutrition-related deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number during the war to 322, with 121 of them children.
US
Boy, 8, and girl, 10, killed in US Catholic school shooting named – as father brands attacker ‘a coward’
The families of two children killed in the US Catholic school shooting have said their “hearts are broken” and branded the attacker a “coward”.
Fletcher Merkel who was eight and 10-year-old Harper Moyski were killed during mass at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Eighteen other people were injured, including children aged between six and 15 and three adults in their 80s.
Police said Robin Westman, a male born as Robert Westman, opened fire with a rifle through the windows of the school’s church as children sat in pews.
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New details released of US school shooting
‘Our hearts are broken’
Harper’s parents, Michael Moyski and Jackie Flavin, remembered her as “a bright, joyful, and deeply loved 10-year-old whose laughter, kindness, and spirit touched everyone who knew her”.
“Our hearts are broken not only as parents, but also for Harper’s sister, who adored her big sister and is grieving an unimaginable loss. As a family, we are shattered, and words cannot capture the depth of our pain,” their statement said.
They urged leaders and communities to “take meaningful steps to address gun violence and the mental health crisis in this country.”
“Change is possible, and it is necessary – so that Harper’s story does not become yet another in a long line of tragedies,” the statement added.
The family of Fletcher Merkel said there was a ‘hole in our hearts’. Pic: Family handout/AP
‘Fletcher loved his family’
In a statement reported by Sky’s US partner network NBC News, Fletcher’s father Jesse Merkel blamed the “coward” killer for why the boy’s family can’t “hold him, talk to him, play with him, and watch him grow into the wonderful young man he was on the path to becoming”.
He said: “Fletcher loved his family, friends, fishing, cooking, and any sports that he was allowed to play.
“While the hole in our hearts and lives will never be filled, I hope that in time, our family can find healing.”
Mr Merkel also praised “the swift and heroic actions of children and adults alike from inside the church”.
“Without these people and their selfless actions, this could have been a tragedy of many magnitudes more. For these people, I am thankful,” he added.
Families and loved ones reunite at the scene after the shooting. Pic: Reuters
Mayor calls for assault weapon ban
It comes after Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey called for a statewide and federal ban on assault weapons, a day after the deadly school shooting.
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Minneapolis mayor urges assault weapons ban
“Thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it. It’s on all of us to see this through,” the mayor said at a news conference. “We need a statewide and a federal ban on assault weapons.
“We need a statewide and a federal ban on high-capacity magazines. There is no reason that someone should be able to reel off 30 shots before they even have to reload.
“We’re not talking about your father’s hunting rifle gear. We’re talking about guns that are built to pierce armour and kill people.”
Meanwhile, Minneapolis police chief Brian O’Hara gave an update on the investigation, saying the suspect had fired 116 rifle rounds into the church.
“It is very clear that this shooter had the intention to terrorise those innocent children,” he added, before saying the killer “fantasised” about the plans of other mass shooting attackers and wanted to “obtain notoriety”.
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Thomas Klemond, interim CEO of Minneapolis’s main trauma hospital Hennepin Healthcare, said at an earlier news conference that the hospital was treating nine patients injured in the shooting.
One child at the hospital was in a critical condition, he added.
Children’s Minnesota Hospital also said that three children remain in its care as of Thursday morning.
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