DC protests as Trump deployment ramps up

Trump's 'crusade against crime' is targeting immigrants and the homeless

Thousands march through Washington D.C. in protest of Donald Trump's use of federal agents and the National Guardsmen to conduct policing actions
Thousands march through Washington in protest of Donald Trump's use of federal agents and the National Guardsmen to conduct policing actions
(Image credit: Dominic Gwinn / Middle East Images / AFP / Getty Images)

What happened

Protesters in Washington, D.C., pushed back over the weekend against President Donald Trump's growing federal military and law enforcement deployment in the capital.

Who said what

Capital residents are "navigating daily life under federal control as both sides — the feds and resistance — ramp up their manpower and rhetoric," Axios said. Hundreds of federal agents have "set up traffic checkpoints, arrested delivery drivers and restaurant workers over immigration violations," The Wall Street Journal said. "But the most visible show of force has centered on the city's downtown, upscale corridors and tourist hubs," not the high-crime parts of the city where residents might welcome added assistance.

In the first week of Trump's purported "crusade against crime," the "main targets have increasingly been immigrants and those experiencing homelessness," The Washington Post said. In one widely shared video, a swarm of masked, unidentified federal agents arrested a Venezuelan delivery driver as he left a coffee shop, throwing him to the ground and taking him away in an unmarked black SUV. "You guys are ruining this country," one bystander yells at the agents. "Liberals already ruined it," one of the officers replies.

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What next?

It's "not a leap to imagine that other GOP states will scramble" to volunteer their National Guard troops to "publicly and tangibly show their support for the Trump administration," Politico said. It's "unclear why additional troops are needed," The Associated Press said.

Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.