As out-of-state Guard troops arrive, Trump's federal crackdown ripples
through DC neighborhoods
[August 20, 2025]
By MATT BROWN, LINDSAY WHITEHURST and CHRIS MEGERIAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The main drag in Washington's Columbia Heights
neighborhood is typically crammed with people peddling pupusas, fresh
fruit, souvenirs and clothing. On Tuesday, though, things felt
different: The white tents that bulge with food and merchandise were
scarcer than usual.
“Everything has stopped over the last week,” said Yassin Yahyaoui, who
sells jewelry and glass figurines. Most of his customers and fellow
vendors, he said, have “just disappeared” — particularly if they speak
Spanish.
The abnormally quiet street was one of many pieces of evidence showing
how President Donald Trump 's decision to flood the nation's capital
with federal law enforcement and immigration agents has rippled through
the city. While troop deployments and foot patrols in downtown areas and
around the National Mall have gotten the most attention, life in
historically diverse neighborhoods like Columbia Heights is being
reshaped as well.
The White House has credited Trump's crackdown with hundreds of arrests,
while local officials have criticized the aggressive intervention in the
city's affairs.
The confrontation escalated on Tuesday as the top federal prosecutor in
D.C. opened an investigation into whether police officials have
falsified crime data, according to a person familiar with the situation
who wasn't authorized to comment publicly. The probe could be used to
bolster Trump's claims that the city is suffering from a “crime
emergency” despite statistics showing improvements. The mayor’s office
and the police department declined to comment.
National Guard members from West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi
and Louisiana began arriving in Washington on Tuesday to assist in the
crackdown, according to Joint Task Force District of Columbia, the
military unit overseeing the D.C. Guard. Those troops from other states
will perform similar duties to D.C. Guard members already on the
streets, including protecting landmarks and crowd control, and will be
staying at military base housing and hotels, JTF-DC said.
Stops are visible across the city
Blocks away from where Yahyaoui had set up shop, U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement and local police stopped a moped driver delivering
pizza. The agents drove unmarked cars and wore tactical vests; one
covered his face with a green balaclava. They questioned the driver and
required him to present documentation relating to his employment and
legal residency status. No arrest was made.
The White House said there have been 465 arrests since Aug. 7, when the
federal operation began, including 206 people who were in the country
illegally. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration
enforcement and the president signed an executive order on Aug. 11 to
put the police department under federal control for 30 days; extending
that would require congressional approval.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump was
“unapologetically standing up for the safety of law-abiding American
citizens.”
Glorida Gomez, who has been working a fruit stand in Columbia Heights
for more than a decade, said business is worse now than during the
COVID-19 pandemic. She said many vendors stopped coming because they
were afraid of interacting with federal agents.
Customers seem less willing to spend money too. Reina Sosa, another
vendor, said "they’re saving it in case something happens,” like getting
detained by immigration enforcement.
Ana Lemus, who also sells fruit, said “we need more humanity on the part
of the government.”
“Remember that these are people being affected,” she said. “The
government is supposed to protect members of the community, not attack
or discriminate against them.”
Bystanders have captured some arrests on video. On Saturday morning,
Christian Enrique Carias Torres was detained in another part of the city
during a scuffle with ICE agents, and the footage ricocheted around
social media. An FBI agent's affidavit said Carias Torres kicked one of
the agents in the leg and another was injured when he fell during the
struggle and struck his head on the pavement. A stun gun was used to
subdue Carias Torres, who was charged Tuesday with resisting arrest.
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U.S. Capitol Police officers on bike patrol talk to District of
Columbia Army National Guardsmen standing next to their Humvee
military utility vehicle, outside Union Station near the U.S.
Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Manuel
Balce Ceneta)
An alphabet soup of federal agencies have been circulating in the
city. In the Petworth neighborhood, roughly 20 officers from the
FBI, Homeland Security, Park Police and U.S. Marshals descended on
an apartment building on Tuesday morning. A man extended his hands
out a window while officers cuffed him. Yanna Stelle, 19, who
witnessed the incident, said she heard the chatter from walkie
talkies as officers moved through the hallways.
“That was too many police first thing in the morning — especially
for them to just be doing a warrant," she said.
More National Guard troops from other states are slated to arrive
From his actions and remarks, Trump seems interested in ratcheting
up the pressure. His administration has asked Republican-led states
to send more National Guard troops — a total of 1,100 on top of the
800 from the D.C.-based Guard. In addition to those states whose
deployments started arriving Tuesday, Ohio and Tennessee have also
said they will send forces.
Resistance to that notion is starting to surface, both on the
streets and in Congress. On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Sam Liccardo of
California introduced a bill that would require a report outlining
the cost of any National Guard deployment unrelated to a natural
disaster, as well as its legal basis. It would also require
reporting on any Guard interactions with civilians and other aspects
of the operation.
Forty four Democrats have signed on in support, including
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s non-voting
delegate in the House of Representatives. While the measure stands
little chance of passing while Republicans control the chamber, it’s
a sign of a wider Democratic response to Trump’s unprecedented moves
in Washington.
“Are L.A. and D.C. a test run for a broader authoritarian takeover
of local communities?" Liccardo asked. He added that the country's
founders were suspicious of "executive control of standing armies.”
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said that “Democrats
continue to side with criminals over law abiding Americans."
What kind of assistance will be offered?
It's unclear what kind of help the National Guard will be able to
provide when it comes to crime.
“The fact of the matter is that the National Guard are not
law-enforcement trained, and they’re not going into places where
they would be engaged in law enforcement activity," said Jeff Asher,
a crime analyst and consultant at AH Datalytics. “So I don’t know
that it’s fair to expect much of it.”
Trump declared in a social media post that his initiative has
transformed Washington from “the most unsafe ‘city’ in the United
States” to “perhaps the safest, and getting better every single
hour!”
The number of crimes reported in D.C. did drop by about 8% this week
as compared to the week before, according to Metropolitan Police
data. There was some variation within that data, with crimes like
robberies and car thefts declining while burglaries increased a bit
and homicides remained steady.
Still, a week is a small sample size — far from enough time for data
to show meaningful shifts, Asher said. Referring to the month-long
period that D.C.’s home rule law allows the president to exert
control over the police department, he said: “I think 30 days is too
short of a period to really say anything."
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Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman, Alanna Durkin Richer,
Jacquelyn Martin, Mike Pesoli and Ashraf Khalil contributed to this
report.
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