Immigrant rights organizations and D.C. residents demonstrated outside the Wilson Building early Monday to urge Mayor Muriel Bowser to protect immigrants.
They gathered outside a budget hearing and urged Bowser to stand up to the Trump administration.
The rally was sparked by the mayor’s move to repeal a 2020 law that provides protections to immigrants by preventing local police from cooperating with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and prohibiting inquiries into the immigration status of people being held in D.C. custody. A repeal of the law is included in Bowser’s proposed 2026 budget.
In remarks last week, Bowser said she requested a repeal of a law that referenced sanctuary because it was a “misnomer.”
“We are happy to work with the council to make sure provisions that were reflected there are raised up,” she said Thursday.
The Trump administration has threatened to cut federal funding to jurisdictions it feels are not cooperating with the president’s immigration enforcement efforts. Last week, the Department of Homeland Security put out a list of 500 jurisdictions in danger of losing funding, including D.C. The list was later removed from the DHS website.
Rally participants said D.C. officials need to make clear that immigrants are safe in D.C.
“In her efforts to appease Trump, Bowser has turned her back on her constituents,” one demonstrator said.
Members of the crowd then moved inside to testify before the D.C. Council’s budget committee.
