Scores of protesters marched in Washington, DC, on Saturday against President Donald Trump's federal takeover of the city's police department anddeployment of National Guardtroops to the capital. Holding signs that read "protect DC home rule" and "stop the Trump takeover," participants in the "We Are All DC" march journeyed from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza near the White House to protest what they see as Trump's authoritarian push to control the district. "To see the destruction of the federal workforce and the importation of the National Guard to try to keep peace where crime is at the lowest it's been in 30 years. It's just, it moved me to protest," David Reinke, a former government contractor who lives in neighboring Maryland, told CNN. Last month, Trump declared a crime emergency and ordered the federal government to take control of DC's police department, surged federal law enforcement into the district and deployed National Guard troops – a broad effort that has drawn the ire of many city residents. DC's violent crime rate has plummeted in the last decades and reached its lowest since 1966 in 2024,CNN previously reported. Of the National Guard troops in DC, Howard University student Stephanie Collins-Stewart told CNN, "I honestly feel like it's a tactic, like they're trying to intimidate us. But I've been going here for school for the past few years and I know what DC is like. It's pretty calm for the most part." Another protester, Kristine Sieloff, a public school teacher from Baltimore, told CNN she's concerned Trump will soon send the National Guard to her city — which he has threatened — arguing that it's just "a show of force that's meant to intimidate people." Marchers on Saturday also held anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement signs, and some participants CNN spoke to expressed disapproval of the Trump administration's ICE raids, arguing that it's pulling families apart. "There's got to be a more humane and more diplomatic way to deal with people who are undocumented, and the way they're doing it is very inhumane," Tammi Price, a retired teacher, told CNN. "There's so much more that could be done with the millions and millions of dollars that taxpayers are paying for occupation, the occupation of ICE and the National Guard," she argued. "Those are our tax dollars." The mission iscosting roughly $1 milliona day, experts estimated to CNN. CNN's Jenna Monnin contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com
