As President Donald Trump’s law enforcement surge approaches the end of its third week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is working to quell the fear and anxiety it has created for some city residents.
In one case, The Associated Press reported, officers made an arrest in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood near Bancroft Elementary School on Wednesday morning. A group of community members chanted, and some of the officers had their faces covered.
One resident said incidents like that are resulting in fear.
During a news conference, Mayor Bowser said extra federal officers are helping to keep crime trends on a positive trajectory. The first 20 days of the law enforcement surge has brought an 87% decrease in carjacking and a 15% drop in crime overall compared to the same time period last year, according to crime data released by the mayor’s office.
“We know that when carjackings go down, when use of gun go down, when homicide or robbery go down, neighborhoods feel safer and are safer,” Bowser said. “This surge has been important to us for that reason.”
D.C. police, Bowser said, need to hire 500 more officers over the next few years to reach the threshold of 4,000 officers that officials think the city needs.
But, in one of her strongest public rebukes since the surge started, Bowser said masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and National Guard troops from other states aren’t helping to keep the city safe. Instead, the setup may be causing some community members to question whether they can trust local law enforcement when they need help, city leaders said.
“There’s tremendous anxiety in the District,” Bowser said. “When I look and I see residents putting things on social media or neighborhood chats, I know that there is a lot of anxiety. There’s a lot of anxiety with kids going back to school.”
President Donald Trump vowed to crack down on immigration as part of his campaign. During the law enforcement surge in D.C., Bowser confirmed to WTOP that ICE agents are riding with D.C. police officers on traffic stops involving mopeds.
The city, Bowser said, doesn’t have information on anybody who ICE has detained.
“I am concerned, for sure, because we think anything that we do and anything that we’re going to ask federal partners to do is focused on violent crime,” she said.
Many people living in D.C. have Temporary Protected Status protections and immigrated to the U.S. legally, Bowser said, and “whether you have documents or you’re undocumented, you almost feel like you’re being caught up in a dragnet, and that is horrible.”
Asked about her message to worried Hispanic workers, Bowser said she would “express to them as a neighbor how very sorry I am that they’re living in this terror.”
Meanwhile, Police Chief Pamela Smith said officers are working to keep building relationships in local communities.
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“There is some hesitation” among residents to seek help because they’re afraid, Smith said.
Bowser added that while the city doesn’t know the number of calls that aren’t getting made, many people are still asking for assistance.
“We do want people to continue to call when they need help,” said Lindsey Appiah, deputy mayor for public safety and justice.
Bowser said crime is down compared to the same time period last year. The extra presence will end after 30 days, on Sept. 10, unless Trump seeks congressional approval to extend it.
“We will be prepared to take advantage of additional federal officers to focus on the beautification, to support the federal task force, when that time period expires,” Bowser said. “We will be prepared as a city.”
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