Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and different officers in Washington, D.C., say the Trump administration’s crime crackdown is admittedly about exerting energy and elevating immigration enforcement — not making D.C. safer.
Whereas high Trump officers say the high-profile deployments have had the speedy impact of stifling crime within the District, native critics are elevating questions on each the geographic placement of Nationwide Guard troops and federal officers — who’ve been most outstanding in vacationer sizzling spots and different wealthier elements of the town — and the main target of the felony crackdown.
Of the 556 arrests tallied by the White Home because it started rising federal legislation enforcement presence on Aug. 7, practically half of the arrests, 233, have been labeled by the administration as migrants with out authorized standing, a White Home official mentioned Tuesday.
“I think it makes the point that this is not about D.C. crime,” Bowser mentioned earlier within the week, including that the administration needs to be clear about its intent.
“Nobody is against focusing on driving down any level of violence,” Bowser mentioned. “And so if that is actually about immigration enforcement, the administration ought to make that plain.”
The checklist of these arrested consists of immigrants with alleged felony histories of assault, kidnapping, housebreaking and larceny, the White Home official mentioned. However it additionally consists of supply drivers arrested as they tried to select up meals from industrial venues, sparking a backlash from human rights advocates and a few D.C. residents.
Fueling the criticisms, the very best profile arrest up to now was that of a Justice Division worker accused of throwing a sandwich at an agent of U.S. Customs and Border Safety in a piece of the town greatest recognized for its vibrant nightlife.
Different high-profile or viral encounters have largely centered on immigration.
Video captured no less than 5 masked brokers who refused to reply questions on what company they have been with as they used a stun gun on a supply driver earlier than putting the person in an unmarked automobile. When an onlooker mentioned the officers have been ruining the nation, one federal agent responded “liberals already ruined it.”
In one other case, a person captured video of his supply driver as he was detained simply minutes away, arrested by officers after the Arabic speaker was apparently unable to reply questions posed by officers.
The obvious concentrate on immigration has prompted protests across the metropolis. In a single high-profile instance, video from Tuesday exhibits a crowd within the Columbia Heights neighborhood marching behind a gaggle of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) brokers and chanting “ICE go home” till the brokers attain their automobiles and go away the realm.
The next day, the administration pushed again towards the demonstrations, dispatching Vice President Vance, White Home deputy chief of workers Stephen Miller and Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth to Union Station, the transportation hub the place Nationwide Guard troops have been stationed for days.
Vance touted the Nationwide Guard presence as “a great example of what’s possible when you actually have the political willpower to bring law and order and common decency back to the public spaces of the United States of America,” whereas Miller railed towards “stupid white hippies” protesting the crackdown.
Some Democrats say the president has launched the tough-on-crime effort merely to deflect consideration away from the continued saga surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, the late financier and convicted intercourse offender who had previous ties to Trump and his elite social circle in South Florida.
“Trump is using DC as a stage and DC residents as props in a political play to distract from his Epstein problem,” D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) posted on the social platform X. “This is unacceptable.”
Charles Allen, a D.C. Council member, forged the takeover as a approach to assert management and distract from issues inside the Trump presidency.
“Authoritarianism, power, and control — what this has all been about — made plain,” he wrote on X final week.
“It might make sense if he’s trying to create compelling TV and distract folks from the real scandals he’s facing, but it doesn’t make our city safer & it’s a dangerous abuse of power and authority,” he added later.
Saying his D.C. crime crackdown earlier within the month, Trump mentioned it was essential to fight ranges of crime in Washington he portrayed as dystopian. The surge in federal forces would “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor, and worse,” he mentioned.
However throughout that announcement, Trump repeatedly turned to the subject of immigration.
“This city will no longer be a sanctuary for illegal alien criminals,” he mentioned.
“We will have full, seamless, integrated cooperation at all levels of law enforcement, and we’ll deploy officers across the District with an overwhelming presence.”
Initially, the administration deployed 800 unarmed Nationwide Guard troops, on high of a whole bunch of different officers throughout a bunch of businesses together with the FBI, ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Safety.
Since then, the numbers have grown dramatically, with six GOP-led states sending their Nationwide Guard forces to D.C. on the request of the administration, bringing the entire to almost 2,000 numerous legislation enforcement officers patrolling D.C. Moreover, the guard members will start carrying weapons, in accordance with quite a few reviews.
Throughout a press briefing on Wednesday, Bowser made clear that she doesn’t assist the surge of army troops.
“I don’t think the National Guard should be used for law enforcement,” she said. “Calling women from their homes and their jobs and their families — they have to be used on mission-specific items that benefit the nation. I don’t think you have an armed militia in the nation’s capital.”
The D.C. Police Union, which says it represents 3,000 of the town’s legislation enforcement officers, has hailed the arrival of the federal reinforcements as a crucial step in combating violent crime within the nation’s capital. The union posted numbers on Monday indicating that crime in D.C. plummeted within the first week after Trump introduced the legislation enforcement surge, versus the week prior. Violent crimes, the group mentioned, have been down 22 % over that span, whereas all crimes have been down 8 %.
Carjackings noticed the best change, down 83 %.
“At the direction of @POTUS, our nation’s capital is a SAFER place — and we are just getting started,” U.S. Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi posted Tuesday on X.
Bondi mentioned the surge has led to the seizure of 76 weapons, together with 9 on Monday night time alone.
On Wednesday, Bondi promoted a brand new marketing campaign from the U.S. Marshals Service providing a $500 reward for data resulting in an arrest throughout the federal surge.
“Together, we will make DC safe again!” she wrote.
Violent crime in D.C., which noticed a big spike throughout the COVID pandemic, has since plummeted even lengthy earlier than Trump’s policing marketing campaign, nevertheless, elevating questions in regards to the true effectiveness of the federal surge. Offenses associated to carjackings, for instance, fell from 319 via the primary eight months of 2024 to 190 over the identical span this yr, in accordance with D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Division.
Given these traits, Trump’s critics see a extra menacing marketing campaign, warning that the militarization of Washington’s streets brings with it an authoritarian air that’s shortly broken sure companies. That features eating places, which noticed a plunge in reservations within the days after the administration’s legislation enforcement takeover.
“The whole region understands that oppression of people in Washington hurts everybody who lives in our region,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.), the senior Democrat on the Home Judiciary Committee, advised MSNBC on Tuesday. “We don’t want to see people’s rights being trampled there.”
The crackdown comes as D.C. law enforcement officials have been underneath strain to do extra to help federal officers with immigration enforcement.
The Metropolitan Police Division has historically sought to bar its officers from taking actions primarily based solely on immigration standing if somebody doesn’t in any other case have a felony warrant out for his or her arrest.
However in a transfer that was later shifted underneath court docket scrutiny, Bondi sought to nominate a brand new D.C. police commissioner whereas additionally searching for to unwind D.C. legal guidelines limiting police involvement in immigration enforcement.
Immigration advocates in D.C. say now any brush with legislation enforcement might be disastrous for migrants.
“This disturbing coverage strips away the rights and security of our communities. Even the most typical police interactions — corresponding to a site visitors violation or reporting a criminal offense — can have life-altering penalties for immigrants, together with detention and deportation,” the Amica Heart for Immigrant Rights mentioned in an announcement earlier than Bondi’s order was tamed by the courts.
“This policy adds to the atmosphere of fear and distrust, perpetuates racial profiling, and criminalizes innocent people.”
