As of Monday night, former President Donald Trump was calling for federal agents to be sent to Washington D.C. This decision has ignited a firestorm of anger and concern among residents. For one, the city is fighting a wave of homicides at the same time. In just the last few weeks, two additional killings have brought this year’s total to 101. This federal presence is focused on what President Trump has referred to as an ongoing crime wave. Meanwhile, state and local leaders pretend that this crisis does not exist.
For one month, Trump took over the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). He accomplished it through a never-before-used clause in the law that established the district. He committed to pursuing congressional authorization for long-term federal monitor oversight of the MPD. This points to a broader question of the importance and limits of local autonomy in law enforcement.
Owen Simon, a student government undergrad at Georgetown University, was a firsthand eyewitness to the deployment. He confirmed this to my office by observing eight cars full of federal agents driving down his street. That shows an impressive show of force in a district known for some political muscle.
In response, the White House announced that as many as 800 National Guard troops would be deployed to assist the city. Like millions of their migrant counterparts, hundreds of federal officers from the departments of DEA and FBI will accompany them. As far as we can tell, in 2022 violent crime rates reached a 30-year low. Frankly, crime is still much too high in Washington D.C. compared to peer cities of similar population size.
Many local residents expressed unease about the federal agents’ presence. On Tuesday evening, police and federal agents began stopping vehicles along 14th Street in Columbia Heights, conducting traffic checks alongside agents from Homeland Security Investigations. The experience left residents understandably frustrated when they saw this in real time, often meeting police with physical resistance during the stops.
It’s just to scare people,” said one resident—representative of the many who expressed their feelings about the traffic checkpoints, which have more the appearance of a police tactic. Juwan Brooks, an employee of a local retail store, reported agents were focusing on people they thought looked Hispanic. He stated, “It was cool when Trump was saying it, but to actually see it first hand? I didn’t like it.”
Policy analyst Owen Simon was even more worried about the effect this would have on foreign students or people who just look like they’re foreign. He observed a significant absence of Hispanic day laborers typically found waiting for work under sparse trees at a nearby Home Depot parking lot, raising alarm over the implications of increased federal scrutiny in the area.
This misperception is costly, as residents have expressed yet-persistent frustration over law enforcement’s emphasis on citations and arrests. Another community member spoke to the need, warning, “Working people live in the neighborhood—people be going to the store, getting picked up, but it’s 16- and 17-year-olds in those cars.” Another witness agreed with that sentiment, adding that concentrated investments can be warranted. It must not be at the expense of those doing everything they can to better their own futures.
Local resident and Nowak’s neighbor Kevin Cataldo artfully summed up the surreal moment. “I just feel like it’s too much federal overreach. I think it’s unnecessary, and I think our MPD does a great job,” he stated. His comments capture the increasing anxiety about local control and their conduct as a level of government to tackle crime and crises without federal muscle.
Now, in light of these developments, residents are asking why the federal deployment made sense at all. “What is this for, anyway?” one member questioned, summing up the skepticism and fear experienced citywide.