The U.S. government announced Wednesday that it is taking over management of Washington Central Station, known as Union Station, as part of its strategy to increase control over the capital in its “fight against crime.”
“We’re going to take back full management by the Department of Transportation and we’re going to make investments to make sure that this station is not dirty and that there are no homeless people,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during the unveiling of high-speed trains at the same station.
According to him, they seek to make the terminal “an attractive place”: “We need to invest here, it has been neglected for decades and that shows. We want to make this place the most important train station, not only in America, but in the world.
“Today we are announcing that we are taking back direct control of the station, not as a power move. We’ve always had it, but we believe we can manage the property better, attract more tenants, increase revenues,” Duffy insisted.
The central station, although owned by the Department, is, until now, controlled by the private company Union Redevelopment and Amtrak, the U.S. public rail transportation company.
This is a new step by the Trump Administration to gain control of the capital, with which it fights – and has fought – several clashes.
Last August 11, Trump took control of Washington’s security, initially for 30 days, under the law that allows him to intervene in the city’s authority on the grounds that there is an “emergency” due to high crime.
In addition, he activated 800 members of the National Guard, which added to those of six Republican-governed states that have decided to send more troops means that there are more than 2,000 members of this unit alone patrolling the city.
Union Station has been one of the scenarios where the Army has been most present.
Also working on the streets of the capital are the Metropolitan Police and federal agents from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration(DEA) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to Attorney General Pam Bondi, 1,178 people have already been arrested in Washington and 123 illegal weapons have been seized.
Activists and organizations have denounced that federal agencies are taking advantage of this supposed war on crime to detain undocumented migrants, according to information from EFE.
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