On our good news Friday, let’s focus on good people

Instead of my usual summary of some of Fix the News’ subscriber-only content this week, I’d like to talk about what’s happening in D.C.

Federal authorities have set up checkpoints around the nation’s capital, sometimes asking people for their immigration status and detaining them, as President Trump’s crackdown ensnares more residents each day, says The Associated Press.

 
“Trump claimed that a crime crisis required his Republican administration’s intervention in the Democratic-led city this month, brushing aside statistics that showed the problem was already waning,” AP says. “However, immigration enforcement appears to be a priority, as more than a third of people arrested in the last two weeks were in the country illegally, according to the White House.”

The article talks about a day care center that partially closed Thursday because staff were afraid to go to work. Construction workers on their way to work were taken away. 

“A growing number of delivery drivers, most of them from Central or South America, are being detained by federal agents on D.C. streets and put into immigration detention in one of the most visible and high-profile effects of President Donald Trump federalizing the D.C. police force,” The Washington Post reports.

Many of these cases are the result of a new practice: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are accompanying D.C. police officers on moped traffic stops to determine the immigration status of those delivery drivers, and then detain and deport them if they’re in the United States illegally, three police officers told the Post.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement Thursday that “President Trump was clear: he will make DC safe and beautiful again.”

About making D.C. beautiful: I’m wondering if part of Trump’s motivation for his crackdown on D.C. crime and homelessness may be that he’s embarrassed by the capital. 

BBC News reported about the dismantling of a homeless site after Trump was “irked” by it as he drove by in his motorcade to his golf club.

Trump visited law enforcement officers and National Guard troops in D.C. on Thursday and said, “It’s like a different place. It’s like a different city. It’s the capital. It’s going to be the best in the world. We’re going to do what you’re doing with law enforcement, and very importantly, also, we’re going to physically do it,” he told the agents, officers and troops. “We’re going back to Congress for some money, and we’re going to redo a lot of the pavement, a lot of the medians, a lot of the graffitis, all coming off real fast. It’s going to come down real fast.

“And when people come in from the airport all the way to the Capitol, the White House, or any place else they go, and they say, Well, this place is spotless, so we’re doing that,” he said.

“One of the things we’re going to be redoing is your parks. I’m very good at grass because I have a lot of golf courses all over the place,” Trump said. “And we’re going to be re-grassing all of your parks, all brand new sprinkler systems, the best that you can buy, just like Augusta. … It’ll look like, more importantly, Trump National Golf Club.”

The move to clean the capital of criminal elements and ragged edges comes under Trump’s Making D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, says a separate Washington Post article. 

But “some in D.C. believe a different kind of ugliness is playing out,” the Post says.

“From the White House, the president sees a lawless wasteland,” said leaders of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. “We see fellow human beings — neighbors, workers, friends and family — each made in the image of God.”

As a D.C. resident, I depend on the good work of the good people who maintain and improve my house — and on the moped drivers who deliver my dinner. I see the essential goodness of the homeless people with whom I’ve interacted during my years in D.C. We’re all members of this human family.

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