Top Democrats tell Trump they are 'deeply troubled' by unidentified law enforcement patrolling protests in DC

• Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut introduced a bill requiring law enforcement officers policing protests to display identifying information, citing "serious public safety concerns."
• In a letter to President Donald Trump Monday, the legislation came in light of unmarked law enforcement officers and vehicles patrolling the streets of Washington DC.
• Officers also reportedly refused to identify themselves to protesters and journalists, citing Schumer and Murphy's letter.
• "Not only does it make it impossible to hold personnel accountable for their actions, it also poses a serious public safety concerns when members of the public are unable to differentiate a legitimate law enforcement officer from someone just dressed up like one," the senators wrote in the letter.
• Protesters told Business Insider that Washington, DC, is starting to feel like "military state" with the National Guard and other law enforcement agencies being called to police the protests.

Last week heavily armed, unidentified federal agents began patrolling the streets of Washington, DC. The officers turned out to be riot teams from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Sen. Chuck Schumer and Sen. Chris Murphy sent a letter to President Donald Trump concerned about these officers, saying that unidentifiable law enforcement "poses serious public safety concerns" because it could make it difficult "to differentiate a legitimate law enforcement officer from someone just dressed up like one."

In the letter to Trump, Schumer and Murphy wrote they were "deeply troubled" by the deployment of unidentified law enforcement in DC, particularly given the officers are reportedly refusing to "identify themselves to peacefully protesting Americans and journalists."

They wrote that they introduced legislation requiring officers policing protesters to display identifying information, which comes in light of concerns of unmarked federal law-enforcement vehicles and officers patrolling the streets of Washington, DC, during protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd.

"No law enforcement officer should be anonymous when engaging with the public in this manner," they wrote in the letter. "Not only does it make it impossible to hold personnel accountable for their actions, it also poses a serious public safety concerns when members of the public are unable to differentiate a legitimate law enforcement officer from someone just dressed up like one."

The legislation they proposed requires law enforcement officers, Armed Services members, and contractors to display "their Federal agency, last name, and badge number or rank, when they are engaged in crowd control, riot control, or the arrest or detainment of protesters."

"No administration, regardless of political party, should have the authority to deploy unidentifiable law enforcement who cannot be held accountable to the American people," Schumer and Murphy wrote in the letter to the president.

Protesters told Business Insider that DC is starting to feel like a "military state" with the National Guard and other law enforcement agencies being called to police the protests.

"I'm really concerned that military has been brought in and the National Guard — I think that's a really radical step," Lia Cheek, 32, told Business Insider. "Part of me feels like it's turning into a military state."

"It's a sign of who our president is — he likes to control, he likes to bully, and he's using our military and our people and our tax dollars to bully us and control us, and that's not OK," she added. "We need to keep protesting and using our voices."