Washington, D.C., has entered its second week with soldiers and federal agents directed by President Donald Trump patrolling the city after he invoked a statute that allows him to oversee the city’s law enforcement.
Trump has already deployed about 800 National Guard members, 500 federal law enforcement from various agencies including the Drug Enforcement Agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Now, more law enforcement members are headed to the nation’s capital as Republican-led states comply with Trump’s request.
Here’s what’s happened and what is to come in Washington.
Home Rule Act
Trump announced last week in a press briefing that it is “liberation day” in Washington and he would be invoking Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which grants the president the ability to federalize the city’s law enforcement, which is normally controlled by the mayor.
His decision came after Trump made repeated statements about taking control of the city in response to juvenile crime. The act allowed the president to, for at least 30 days without congressional approval, use the Metropolitan Police Department for the “emergency.” Trump suggested he could go around Congress to extend the occupation longer than 30 days, but said he expects to be before Congress “very quickly.”
National Guardsmen were deployed to Washington last week and other federal agencies also increased their presence around the city.
The actions sparked concern after Trump said in the press conference that he wanted to start “very strongly” in Washington, but there were “other cities also that are bad,” naming Chicago, Los Angeles, Baltimore and Oakland.
“We’re not going to lose our cities over this,” he said. “And this will go further.”
Washington is in a unique position as a district and not a state. Congress controls the city’s budget, but the Home Rule Act allows residents to elect a mayor and city council.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser typically has control over the city’s law enforcement and has pushed back against Trump’s claim about crime in Washington, noting a decline and 30-year low in violent crime.
Meanwhile, on the ground in Washington, things have changed.
Actions so far
Law enforcement officers have been seen at various sites across the city, including the National Mall and Union Station.
The Trump administration has been sharing updates online of the actions, including photos of police cars and National Guard trucks posted around the city.
The White House also shared that it arrested more than 160 undocumented immigrants, “including known gang members” and those with other criminal charges, seized 59 firearms and made more than 380 total arrests within the first 11 days.
As part of Trump’s plan to crack down on crime, he has begun dispersing homeless encampments around the city. Advocates say there is no room at shelters in the city and there is nowhere for people to go.
Many locals and organizations have been sharing videos and photos online documenting where and when the law enforcement officers are.
According to The Washington Post, which compiled a tracker of where and which agency is across the city, there are multiple places with multiple agencies. However, there have been sightings of officers from ICE, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Department of Homeland Security agents, U.S. Border Patrol, Secret Service, U.S. Marshals and National Guard at various sites across the city.
Attorney General Pam Bondi attempted to appoint DEA Administrator Terry Cole as an “emergency police commissioner” for the city, but the administration reversed course after Brian Schwalb, the attorney general of Washington, sued Trump and members of his administration, accusing them of overstepping their authority by taking federal control of the city’s law enforcement.
More law enforcement coming
Four Republican-led states announced they will be sending National Guard troops to Washington, joining the 800 personnel already in the city, after the Pentagon requested more soldiers to be in the area.
Over the weekend, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster authorized 200 of the state’s troops to go to Washington and engage with the federal enforcement effort. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey also said he would send 300 to 400 “skilled personnel to the nation’s capital” to reflect the state’s “commitment to a strong and secure America.”
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said there would be 150 Guard members sent to Washington in the coming days, and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he approved about 200 of his National Guard members to be sent.
“Crime is out of control there, and it’s clear something must be done to combat it,” Reeves said in a statement.
The announcements from the four governors marks an escalation in law enforcement presence that has yet to be felt in the city, as troops will be coming in the next several days.
Residents protest
Some local Washington residents, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, have begun to demonstrate against the federal takeover.
While the administration is celebrating the efforts of the law enforcement members, some locals are growing frustrated.
Various agencies held a traffic stop on a busy main street in a residential neighborhood in Washington, arresting people. Neighbors came out of their houses and apartments to yell at officers and warn other drivers to turn left and not head down the street to be stopped. Videos shared online showed the demonstrators on the street at night demonstrating against the officers, telling them to leave the city.
Last weekend, ahead of Trump’s announcement and amid an increased law enforcement presence, a D.C. resident, Sean Charles Dunn, grew frustrated with an ICE officer, cursing at him and throwing a sandwich at him before running away. He was fired from the Department of Justice and charged with a felony, which the judge later deemed too aggressive. Dunn and his sandwich went viral in a video online and has become a symbol for those opposed and a target of derision from those in favor of the increased law enforcement presence in the city.
Over the weekend, hundreds of people gathered peacefully and marched from the DuPont Circle neighborhood to the White House to protest the Trump administration’s efforts.
A look ahead
It is unclear what the increased presence will look like with the additional troops from the GOP-led states.
Congress remains on recess until Sept. 2. With Republicans controlling the House, there is a good chance that the resolution to extend the federal takeover past its current 30-day limit would pass the lower chamber. In the Senate, however, Trump would need 60 votes, which would require some Democrats to sign on. Trump could declare a national emergency to skirt the congressional approval process.
Trump referenced the city’s crime and the law enforcement presence during a high-stakes meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday. He argued that people are enjoying restaurants in ways they weren’t before, but according to WUSA9, restaurants saw a more than 25% decline in reservations since the takeover.
“We have a thing going on right now in D.C., we went from the most unsafe place anywhere to a place that now, people, friends are calling me up, Democrats are calling me up and they’re saying, ‘Sir, I want to thank you. My wife and I went out to dinner last night for the first time in four years and Washington, D.C., is safe. And you did that in four days,’” Trump said.
“The press says ‘he’s a dictator, he’s trying to take over,’” Trump later said. “No, all I want is security for our people but people that haven’t gone out to dinner in Washington, D.C., in two years are going out to dinner.”
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