D.c. Students Return To School As The City Remains On Edge Amid Trump’s Takeover

WASHINGTON — At a ribbon-cutting connected an summation to an simple schoolhouse successful nan able Glover Park vicinity past Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser was each smiles. She watched students execute a segment from nan philharmonic “Oz,” past spent respective minutes talking astir nan benefits of investing successful schools and getting students excited to get backmost successful nan classroom.

But minutes aft taking photos pinch schoolhouse leaders and section officials, she walked into nan building’s gymnasium, wherever she was swept into a tornado of her own, facing questions from reporters astir a overmuch tougher topic: nan impacts of President Donald Trump’s effort to return complete nan city. All 14 questions Bowser fielded were astir Trump’s executive order, including:

• “There’s been video of ICE arrests spreading crossed societal media… What’s your guidance erstwhile you’re seeing these videos successful nan city?”
• “Can you show america really you consciousness astir nan further National Guard troops coming from different states... Do you consciousness this has usurped your authority moreover more?”
• “How are you reflecting connected this moment? It seems for illustration your imaginable concerns astir this management are starting to beryllium realized?”

Despite Bowser’s effort to task normalcy up of nan first time for nationalist schools Monday, nan commencement of nan schoolhouse twelvemonth will beryllium thing but business arsenic usual. Federal agents person group up checkpoints astatine various intersections crossed nan city. They’ve conducted migration enforcement actions, pinch food transportation drivers slammed to nan crushed and arrested by masked agents from nan Department of Homeland Security successful wide daylight. National Guard soldiers successful Army fatigues have taken up posts extracurricular of Nationals games and astatine metro stops.

The White House says location are much than 2,000 agents, officers and soldiers progressive successful nan operation, and much than 900 arrests person been made.

While nan caput of Immigration and Customs Enforcement told NBC News past week that agents wouldn’t beryllium astatine D.C. schools connected nan first day, they mightiness travel onto campuses successful nan future.

As mayor, Bowser is nan highest ranking charismatic successful D.C. government. But ever since Trump issued an executive order declaring an emergency to reconstruct “law and order” successful nan nation’s capital, her constricted powerfulness has go much evident, reflecting nan city’s deficiency of autonomy since it is not a state. She wants nan agents from Homeland Security Investigations to extremity covering their faces to debar recognition during enforcement operations. She doesn’t deliberation nan National Guard beingness is necessary, and wants them out. But each she tin do is ask.

So she’s focused connected nan things she tin control.

“Monday is my favourite time of nan year,” Bowser told a room afloat of educators astatine Phelps Ace High School successful Northeast Washington connected Wednesday.

There are much than 52,000 students successful D.C.’s 117 nationalist schools.

Even pinch nan metropolis connected edge, Bowser told nan educators to debar nan elephant successful nan room erstwhile nan doorbell rings connected Monday.

“I want everyone to cognize whose occupation authorities is successful this room,” Bowser said. “Whose occupation is it? It’s mine. It’s mine. It’s mine. I’m nan only one. It’s not yours. Alright?”

She told teachers to “trust that I’m going to do nan correct point for each of us.”

But that’s not reassuring to parents, who are grappling pinch really to do nan correct point for their kids.

Alicia Swenson has 4 children successful D.C. schools, and she and her hubby were readying to fto their sixth and seventh people children commute to schoolhouse connected nan Metro by themselves. Now, though, Swenson said she and her hubby will to escort their kids to their schoolhouse successful Northwest D.C. because nan National Guard is making their younger girl uncomfortable.

The past clip she saw a ample rule enforcement beingness successful D.C. was during nan 2020 group justness protests, Swenson said. This time, though, is harder to explicate to her children.

“Back then, I deliberation we said, ‘There’s serene protesting, and that is people’s right. It’s a bully point to do to guidelines up erstwhile you spot thing wrong,’” Swenson said during a Friday interview. “But this? I person nary thought what to opportunity to her. It’s very difficult for america to explicate what’s going connected correct now.”

At a back-to-school arena successful nan West End vicinity connected Friday, genitor Melissa Neil said that while nan National Guard surge tin beryllium “understandable,” it was besides “a small concerning.” Neil is simply a national but immigrated from nan Dominican Republic, and she noted that moreover if personification is simply a citizen, “you still look arsenic an immigrant.”

“You ne'er really cognize what are nan standards,” Neil said. “Even if you person your documentation, they tin still place you arsenic you are not. So it is concerning that you’re pinch your kids, and they tin propulsion you out.”

Mayor Muriel Bowser tried to task a consciousness of normalcy up of nan commencement of nan schoolhouse year. Tom Williams / Getty Images

Nearly each day, a video goes viral of immigration enforcement actions connected nan streets of Washington, aft nan Department of Justice directed Bowser to bid nan city’s constabulary section to assistance successful migration enforcement operations and to comply pinch database inquiries and requests for accusation from immoderate national rule enforcement entity.

At nan aforesaid back-to-school event, Louis Limes said he has “mixed emotions” astir sending his daughters backmost to schoolhouse amid nan surge of National Guard and national agents.

“If they’re retired present for nan information of our children, cool, but from nan past mates of days, we’ve seen that they went complete their boundaries arsenic acold arsenic protecting and serving nan streets, harassing, physically abusing citizens,” Limes said.

Itzetht Testa was shopping pinch her children successful Columbia Heights connected Thursday, and she said that though she served 25 years successful nan Air Force, she disagreed pinch nan National Guard successful nan city’s streets. She voted for Trump but disapproves of his first fewer months truthful overmuch that she says she will ne'er ballot for a Republican again. Now, she said her seventh people boy felt threatened seeing nan National Guard.

“If they’re utilizing it for migration purpose, I don’t attraction for that,” she said of nan National Guard adjacent schools. “It should not beryllium utilized for that.”

“I will ever ballot independent from now on,” Testa added.

While DC residents person yelled, taunted, and protested against nan national agents and National Guard successful their neighborhoods complete nan past 14 days, erstwhile students get to nan beforehand doors of their schools connected Monday, Bowser said Wednesday astatine nan Phelps pep rally that parents, neighbors, and friends will beryllium location “clapping” them in, to show nan metropolis is cheering them on.

“We’re each going to beryllium opinionated enarthrosis to enarthrosis pinch them,” Bowser said.