Source: United States House of Representatives – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (District of Columbia)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) released a statement ahead of Rules Committee consideration of the anti-D.C. bill, the Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act (H.R. 5103), introduced by Rep. John McGuire (R-VA). The bill would undermine D.C.’s autonomy by codifying parts of President Trump’s executive order of the same name into law. The Rules Committee will consider the bill at 4:00 p.m. and the full House is expected to debate the bill on Wednesday. The live stream of today’s hearing will be available on rules.house.gov.
McGuire’s bill would establish the “D.C. Safe and Beautiful Commission.” As originally introduced, the Commission included only federal officials as members of the Commission and excluded any representation from the D.C. government, despite the power to make consequential changes affecting the District. The bill has since been amended to allow a representative from the D.C. Mayor’s Office as one of its 10 members.
The Commission’s first two listed responsibilities are aimed at increasing immigration enforcement in D.C. Specifically, the Commission is required to ensure the “maximum enforcement of Federal immigration law within the District of Columbia, including… the redirection of available Federal, State, or local law enforcement resources to apprehend and deport illegal aliens,” and to monitor D.C.’s “sanctuary-city status and compliance with the enforcement of Federal immigration law.” The Commission is also required to facilitate the “deployment of a more robust Federal law enforcement presence” in D.C. and “increase the speed and lower the costs of processing concealed carry” gun permits in D.C.
“This bill seeks to further President Trump’s efforts to control and demonize D.C. and its residents, the majority of whom are Black and Brown,” Norton said. “President Trump has already called for the repeal of D.C. home rule, federalized the D.C. Police, deployed troops and masked federal agents on D.C.’s streets, terrorized immigrants in D.C., demolished the East Wing of the White House and closed the Kennedy Center. This bill will only further embolden him.
“The arrogance of President Trump’s patronizing efforts is evident in his executive order issued in March of 2025 and in the original bill’s exclusion of any representative from the D.C. government from sitting on a Commission which has ‘D.C.’ in its very title. Although the bill now includes one slot for a member from the D.C. Mayor’s Office, designating one out of 10 members to represent the interests of D.C. residents is an insultingly insufficient adjustment.
“At a time when 60% of Americans disapprove of ICE’s actions terrorizing communities all over the country, it strikes me as politically unwise for Republicans to pass legislation expanding ICE’s ability to terrorize the nation’s capital, where residents are well informed on their rights and where thousands of journalists live, work, and store their cameras.
“Let me be clear: Republican members of Congress who are not accountable to D.C. have no business dictating the local laws of a city where 700,000 people live permanently and have chosen their own leaders through the democratic process. If Republicans truly cared about making D.C. safe and beautiful, they wouldn’t work to increase the number of deadly firearms in the District; they’d fully fund the National Park Service, which maintains over 90% of D.C.’s parkland and has lost a quarter of its staff since President Trump took office.”
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