In the 30 days since Donald Trump took control of Washington DC’s police department and deployed national guard troops, the city has seen the indiscriminate detention of immigrants, the rise of racial profiling and the arrests of large numbers of people for low-level crimes.
The US president claimed the takeover, which began on 11 August, was necessary because of violent crime in the country’s capital, especially after the attempted carjacking and assault of a former Doge staffer. “Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals, roving mobs of wild youth, drugged-out maniacs and homeless people,” he said during a news conference at the White House at the time.
But while Washington DC has long struggled with gun violence, its violent crime rate is at a 30-year low, much lower than that of cities in red states. And the large majority of people impacted by the federal takeover are not perpetrators of violent crime.
Both groups targeted – immigrants and those accused of minor crimes – have been largely picked up by law enforcement through racial profiling and other tactics that experts say have instilled a climate of fear and a distrust of law enforcement.
A White House official said on Monday that 2,120 people have been arrested since the start of Trump’s takeover, 20 known gang members had been arrested and 214 firearms had been seized. While violent crime has decreased during this period, Washington residents say the impact has not been worth the overbearing law enforcement presence.
Federal agents with numerous agencies, including Immigrations and customs enforcement (Ice), Customs and Border Protection, Federal Bureau of Investigation, US Park Service, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the US marshals service have all been activated across the city. Often a single arrest will involve officers from multiple agencies and the local Metropolitan police department (MPD).
Though the deployment of national guard troops from six states was the most high-profile aspect of the 30 days, the camo-clad troops, who are now armed, were largely focused on patrolling tourist sites and Union Station, the city’s main train station. With little work to be done, some were instructed to do landscaping and other “beautification” tasks.
The Home Rule Act – which allowed Washington DC to establish a local government – only allows the president to take over the city’s police department for 30 days without approval from Congress, aspects of Trump’s actions are likely to continue past Wednesday. Mayor Muriel Bowser has issued an order for the MPD to coordinate with federal law enforcement to the “maximum extent allowable by law within the District”, and national guard troops reportedly may stay until the end of the year.
Washington DC residents have pushed back against what many call an occupation, which is deeply unpopular in the largely Democratic city. On Saturday, thousands marched from Malcolm X park in Northwest DC to the White House in an event organized by Free DC, a community organization working to protect the city’s Home Rule that has trained thousands of people since 11 August.
“Trump’s crackdown does not create safety, but it’s opposite,” said Scott Michelman, legal director for the ACLU of DC. “People are scared to go to their jobs, to drop off their kids at school, and to go about their daily lives because of the pervasive law enforcement and military presence that Trump has foisted on this city.”
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When Trump first announced the takeover of the local police department, he said cops will be allowed to do “whatever the hell they want”.
Over the last 30 days, offenses that before 11 August would likely not have led to arrest have resulted in criminal charges, and federal law enforcement who have accompanied MPD have used policing tactics, such as car chases, check points, and stop and frisks, that MPD typically avoids and that experts say may violate the US constitution.
“Anyone who has studied the history of policing in this country knows that that type of green light to pursue incogent hunches, to use force, to stop people at random, falls most heavily on Black and brown people, and we have sadly but predictably seen that play out on the streets of the district,” Michelman said. “We’re deeply concerned that one of the primary effects of Trump’s surge and militarization of law enforcement in DC has been racial profiling.”
While some communities, especially those that suffer from a disproportionate amount of violent crime, have been grateful for additional policing and patrolling, much of the activity has not targeted dangerous criminals.
According to a Reuters analysis of records from Washington’s superior court from halfway through the takeover, the federal agents have been “converging in large numbers on low-level crimes such as marijuana use and public alcohol consumption”. More than half of the cases federal agents were involved in were minor offenses, including misdemeanors and felonies under Washington DC’s code, but not federal felonies.
In the first two weeks, just over 30 cases were filed in federal court for more serious gun and drug-related charges. But many of the charges federal officials have tried to land have not stuck. Grand juries have refused to indict defendants at an unprecedented rate, and judges have also pushed back against the tactics.
“This is perhaps one of the weakest requests for detention I have seen and something that, prior to two weeks ago, would have been unthinkable in this courthouse,” magistrate judge Zia M Faruqui said on 28 August.
Faruqui has also called out police for racial profiling defendants. In one incident, she claimed a Black man was singled out by police because he was carrying a large bag.
“It is without a doubt the most illegal search I’ve even seen in my life,” Faruqui said, according to NPR. “I’m absolutely flabbergasted at what has happened. A high school student would know this was an illegal search.”
Michelman of the ACLU said: “We’ve heard of a sharp uptick in stops that appear to be inexplicable except by the individual’s race or personal appearance.”
Maryland resident Brandon Worthan told the Guardian he was subjected to what he claims was an illegal search when he came to Washington on 27 August.
The 38-year-old was waiting for his girlfriend outside her soon-to-be-opened bar on a quiet stretch of H St Northeast at about 9pm, and said he was speaking to another Black man on the street when roughly 30 to 40 vehicles suddenly pulled up. “Out of nowhere, I just got blitzed,” he said. “All kinds of unmarked police cars, MPD, Secret Service, all kinds of cop cars just pulled up on me and they didn’t ask me any questions.” He said he later saw vests identifying agents with the DEA, FBI, Ice, the US marshal service, and troops in military camo.
According to video from the incident and Worthan’s account, officers grabbed his arms, put him in handcuffs, searched his body, and found a bottle of alcohol in his back pocket. “I wasn’t drinking the bottle,” he said. “I didn’t have it in my hand.”
Related: When immigration shows up at daycare: crackdown in DC terrifies families and workers
Worthan spent the night in the central cell block, where defendants are held temporarily until their court appearance. He said the room was filled with people arrested for similar low-level crimes, including smoking weed and simple assault. “It was like 200 people going to court that day,” he said. Worthan said he never saw a judge, and was released by 4pm the next day, with no charges filed.
“He’s targeting minorities and people from different countries,” Worthan said about Trump. “It’s just crazy to see it on social media and TV, and then when they actually do it to me, I’m like wow this is really what’s going on.”
“I think what’s happening is it is getting people to be off the streets because everyone is just like: ‘I could get messed with by the police for standing outside.’”
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Shortly after Trump’s 11 August announcement about his intentions in Washington DC, attorney general Pam Bondi instructed the local police department to work with federal immigration enforcement officials.
A large part of the Trump administration’s action in Washington over the last 30 days has focused on detaining undocumented people. They have gone about this by setting up Ice checkpoints at busy intersections in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods and patrolling in specific locations, such as restaurants, churches, and schools, that tend to employ immigrants.
Ice has reportedly teamed up with local police to target delivery drivers on mopeds, and videos have circulated the internet showing arrests of construction workers and other laborers as they drive or go about their jobs.
“We have documented, time and time again, people being pulled over simply because they may be Brown or Black, they may look like an immigrant, they may be speaking Spanish,” said Amy Fischer, a court organizer with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid in Washington DC.
The increased enforcement has created a culture of fear among the city’s immigrants, with many saying they have been afraid to leave their homes, go to work, walk down the street, drive their cars or take their children to school.
“People are very very scared and are doing what they can to simply avoid being in DC,” Fisher said. “There simply is an understanding that it’s not safe to exist in DC as an immigrant.”
Immigration enforcement has particularly targeted the Home Depot in Washington DC, like in other cities, due to the large number of undocumented day laborers who often gather outside. Emily, who wanted to be referred to using first name, said her neighbor in the Brookland neighborhood was detained on 11 August when he took his white work van to Home Depot to buy materials for a construction project. Ice has reportedly been targeting laborers in white vans across Washington.
The man, who has three kids including a three-month-old baby, is being held in detention in Virginia and hasn’t seen his family since.
Related: Police dismantle longstanding White House peace vigil on Trump’s orders
“It took three of four days for him to show up in the system and know where he was,” Emily said.
His business partner, with whom he also shares a house, is now extremely scared to be out, and is driving minivans to work instead of his typical white van.
The Trump administration has said it plans to replicate some of what it did in Washington DC in other cities, including Chicago where it says an operation targeting immigrants is under way.
Fischer said she doesn’t expect much to change in Washington DC, either, now that the 30 days are up. “We still expect MPD to work with Ice and to do immigration enforcement and things like checkpoints,” she said, and immigration enforcement may become a regular presence across the city.
As a result, immigrants are unsure when they will feel safe being out in the city. “At this point, we have more questions than answers,” she said.
