WASHINGTON — Steps away from a YMCA, popular bakery and local pharmacy, a group of law enforcement officers across several agencies turned a busy intersection in a mixed residential-commercial area of Washington, D.C., into a police checkpoint Wednesday night as part of President Donald Trump’s directive to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital.
Uniformed officers with the Metropolitan Police Department stood alongside Homeland Security Investigations personnel and several plainclothes agents at one of the first checkpoints set up since Trump temporarily put D.C. police under federal control and deployed the National Guard.
More than 100 protesters soon gathered, heckling law enforcement as they stopped cars approaching the checkpoint and in some cases flagged the vehicles for additional investigation. Some protesters began warning drivers to avoid the checkpoint.
Protesters, federal agents and local officers all dispersed without incident.
One vehicle was towed away from the checkpoint, with witnesses telling NBC News that the driver was removed from the sedan and arrested.
The Metropolitan Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the checkpoint and any potential arrests.
Members of the National Guard, roughly 800 of whom were activated this week to support law enforcement in the city, were not seen at the checkpoint.
A White House official said Wednesday that the deployment of National Guard troops would be “significantly higher” throughout the week, and that the operation would expand from evening shifts to working around the clock.
The increased law enforcement presence has drawn mixed reactions from D.C.-area residents — some are praising the crackdown on crime while others are criticizing Trump for his administration’s tactics.
“I know every inch of the city, and to have seen over the years the deterioration of public places, either with graffiti or with people who are homeless, I couldn’t be more encouraged by the fact that there are people now that really want to say, ‘Stop let’s make this better,'” said Christopher Her, a Maryland resident who previously worked in D.C.
Morgan Komlo, who’s lived in Washington for 10 years, disputed Trump’s characterization of the city as unsafe, pointing to falling violent crime rates. She called Trump’s news conference announcing the federalization of the city’s police “scary” and warned that a further exertion of executive power could result in protests.
“I thought it was scary,” Komlo said. “I also have lived here long enough to know D.C. is not going to stand for much, and I was here in 2016 when there was a lot of protesting” after Trump won the election.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Tuesday characterized Trump’s takeover of local police as an “authoritarian push” during a virtual event she held with constituents where she rejected the president’s assertion that there’s been a spike in crime. But the Democratic mayor conceded that while she opposes Trump’s actions, he has the authority to carry out his executive order.
“We all need to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city, to protect our autonomy, to protect our home rule, and get to the other side of this guy and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push,” Bowser said.
According to federal data released in January, violent crime in the district for 2024 was at its lowest level in more than three decades, and down 35% from the previous year.
In Monday’s order, Trump cited several high-profile violent acts in justifying his decision to deploy National Guard troops and take control of the D.C. police, including the fatal shootings of a congressional intern in June and two Israeli Embassy staffers in May.
The directive to federalize D.C. police lasts for the 30-day maximum, barring legislation passed by Congress to extend that period. Trump told reporters at the Kennedy Center on Wednesday that he plans to submit a bill that will include a request to extend his police takeover.
“We’re going to need a crime bill that we’re going to be putting in, and it’s going to pertain initially to D.C.,” he said. “We’re going to be asking for extensions on that, long-term extensions, because you can’t have 30 days.”
Passage of such a bill would be highly unlikely since it would need Democratic support in the Senate.
National Guard troops began arriving in D.C. on Tuesday, the first tranche of nearly 800 soldiers activated by the Army to assist law enforcement in carrying out Trump’s order.
Roughly 30 National Guard troops were on the ground Tuesday evening, joining 750 uniformed Metropolitan Police Department officers in conducting anti-crime operations across the city.
A senior Army official told NBC News that the 800 National Guard troops are expected to be operational by the end of the week. Roughly 100-200 of those troops will be supporting law enforcement at any given time once all of them are deployed, according to a spokesperson for the Army.
The primary focus of their work is providing law enforcement administrative help and protecting federal personnel and property, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News. The troops are not expected to engage in direct law enforcement activities.
According to data provided by the administration, federal law enforcement personnel have helped make more than 100 arrests since Monday, a third of which have resulted in firearm-related charges.
Including the federalized D.C. officers, more than 1,450 personnel participated in Tuesday’s effort, according to administration figures Wednesday. That count included dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are joining personnel from the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Secret Service.
Roughly 40 agents within the Homeland Security Investigations division, which typically focuses on long-term probes into transnational crimes, have joined federal personnel in an effort to mitigate crime in the city irrespective of whether those crimes are directly related to immigration.
Combating unlawful immigration, a consistent focal point of Trump’s presidency, is also playing a role in Trump’s D.C. police takeover, with agents from ICE’s Enforcement Removal Operation carrying out “targeted” stings this week to arrest immigrants. A spokesperson for ICE said that an operation at a Home Depot “resulted in arrests of criminal illegal aliens convicted of assault, theft and gang activity.”
“The President was clear, he will make DC safe and beautiful again, and ICE is proud to be a part of the solution alongside our federal law enforcement partners. This includes both immigration enforcement and efforts to combat crime in support of the US Marshals Service,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
