I mean, Mayor Muriel Bowser’s never been shy about where she stood on any raging woke issue, from painting Black Lives Matter on the streets and then trying to make it a felony if, God forbid, your tire marked a yellow square inch of the paint surface…on a street…to standing tall with the illegals among us.
Washington, DC remains a proud sanctuary city, and we are committed to protecting the rights of all our immigrant families in the face of these disturbing threats. #DCValues
Full statement: https://t.co/4S8gdwDZJ0 pic.twitter.com/z5c6FMswhd
— Muriel Bowser (@MurielBowser) June 22, 2019
She was the virtue-signaling illegal sanctuary queen during Trump’s first term.
…During Trump’s first term, she tweeted that D.C. is a “proud sanctuary city” and that she is “committed to protecting the rights of all our immigrant families” in the face of what she called Trump’s “disturbing” immigration crackdown.
“The President should understand that not only are these threats cruel and antithetical to our American values, they are actually making our communities less safe by sending more residents into hiding, cut off from resources, support, and opportunity,” she said in a June 21, 2019, statement that was posted on the city’s website.
Weee! On and on the madness went, as the taxpayers of America got to finance D.C.’s progressive indulgences.
Three years ago, she and the city council were busy lowering penalties on carjackers and folks charged with gun possession in a city overrun by criminals. Weren’t they shocked when it got worse?
Then she had the nerve to get bent out of shape not long afterward when busloads of illegals started appearing in the city and were unceremoniously dumped off in the supposed sanctuary.
YOU TOLD THEM TO COME
The mayor declared a state of emergency almost immediately. Even though she might, you know, really love all these undocumented types, she wasn’t going to pay for them.
What a difference a second term makes.
For one thing, Bowser’s proud and defiant anti-Trump statement is gone from the D.C. website…like, POOF!
And, well…woof.
Guess the shine’s completely off that sanctuary city stuff all of a sudden, huh?
🚨NEW: Bowser Scraps Sanctuary Shield, Scrambles to Join Trump’s ICE Offensive, per Washington Free Beacon
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser just torched her own sanctuary law. She buried a repeal in her 2026 budget.
Police could again share immigration data and honor ICE detainers.… pic.twitter.com/4CPCIu3VPz
— Walter Curt (@WCdispatch_) May 30, 2025
…D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser just torched her own sanctuary law. She buried a repeal in her 2026 budget.
Police could again share immigration data and honor ICE detainers. Four years ago she touted a “proud sanctuary city.” That post is gone.
Trump’s second-term sweep has jailed 158,000 illegals and frozen funds for sanctuary holdouts.
ICE nabbed 189 in D.C. this month alone. Bowser wants the money and the backup. Progressives on the council may try to stop her.
The flip-flop shows even blue mayors bow when crime rises and cash dries up.
I think the cash drying up is the come-to-Jesus moment, not any real change of heart.
ICE has been busy in the D.C. metro area, sanctuary or no, detaining at least 189 people so far in May. At the beginning of this month, they carried out raids at restaurants that included former CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell’s husband’s place.
…Reports of planned ICE enforcement action caused concern among Washington, D.C.’s immigrant community Monday, with agents arriving at various businesses across the city Tuesday morning, including Chef Geoff’s.
Fox 5 reported that U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials were at the restaurant on New Mexico Avenue at around 10:30 a.m., asking to see I-9 employee forms.
While other restaurants were targeted in the sweep, the links to O’Donnell and CBS News were not lost on social media, with some Trump supporters saying this is what they had voted for. Critics of the president suggested the raid was politically motivated given its connection to CBS News, with whom the president is currently embroiled in a lawsuit, and because no one was taken into custody. The White House has not commented.
Mayor Bowser didn’t sound so happy about it at the time.
…D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, speaking to reporters Tuesday morning: “I have heard those reports, I’ve been getting them all morning. I am disturbed by them. It appears that ICE is at restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals. It is disrupting. This is not an [Metropolitan Police Department] action, there is no MPD activity involved.”
I wonder what changed her mind?
It’s not only the Trump administration’s active enforcement of immigration statutes forcing the issue. Back in March, Congressman Clay Higgins introduced a bill to compel the District to comply with federal immigration law.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives Oversight Committee held a hearing on new legislation that would nullify D.C.’s sanctuary city status and force the District to comply with federal immigration law.
The District of Columbia Federal Immigration Compliance Act was introduced by republican Congressman Clay Higgins. The act mandates that D.C. agencies and local law enforcement fully cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE agents when it comes to handing over information about undocumented immigrants.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Higgins argued that current D.C. law was written to purposely flout federal immigration law.
“The laws were written with severity leaning towards sanctuary city policies and our nation’s capital should not reflect a refusal, in fact, a mandated deny. denial of compliance with federal immigration law,” said Rep. Higgins.
If that gained traction, there wouldn’t be any need for Trump to lean on Bowser. The full force of congressional mandate would be doing it.
Rock and a hard place.
Now, the seething socialists on the D.C. council are going to have the hissy fit from hell about the Bowser volte-face and could conceivably gum up the works about passing it. Predictably, Democratic Hispanic Caucus members are piling on, too.
“I hope she’s not being intimidated by that guy at the White House”
Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Slams Bowser’s Push to Repeal D.C. Sanctuary City Law.
Advocates say the repeal could deter undocumented residents from reporting crimes or seeking help. @7NewsDC pic.twitter.com/opJmav9Jox— John Gonzalez (@John7News) May 30, 2025
But it still comes down to the cold, hard reality of federal funding, and no one is more vulnerable than the ultimate federal city.
Washington D.C. is already in enough of a hurt locker that there is no way Bowser is going to antagonise the Trump administration over progressive posturing.
Kicking the sanctuary status to the curb is an easy, cheaper fix.
And who knows?
DC Mayor: “We are a sanctuary city because we know that our neighborhoods are safer and stronger” under these policies.
Update: Man who shot three DC cops this month is in the country illegally. pic.twitter.com/6PykBYmaAq
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) February 27, 2024
It might work out much better for everyone.
