Many working-class immigrants who run the hotels, restaurants and tourist sites of Washington, D.C., say they had long wanted the city to do more about homelessness and crime. Some said they had watched violence intensify on the very streets where they work overnight shifts or walk on early mornings as they open up shops.
But in recent days, workers, small business owners and street vendors say they have found themselves at the center of two crackdowns: one on crime, another on illegal immigration. With Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents appearing alongside National Guard members and federal agents as part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on crime in Washington, these workers say they worry that the federal show of force may only complicate efforts to lower violence in the city.
Immigrants interviewed in and near Washington in recent days described a new sense of anxiety, whether they were undocumented or had legal status in this country. And some said they worried that the result could be the opposite of the president’s intended goals, fracturing relationships between immigrants and local authorities, deterring immigrants from reporting crimes and, in the end, making the city less safe.
“My friend told me to be careful because they are squarely picking up everyone, simply for having a Hispanic face,” said Aracely, a legal resident who was wiping windows outside a furniture store near U Street. Like many of those interviewed, she declined to provide her full name for fear of retaliation from the authorities or of reprimands from employers.
As the Trump administration stepped in this month, announcing that it was taking control of law enforcement in the city, immigration enforcement has emerged as a key element. Of 308 people arrested since the federal push began on Aug. 7, 135 were unauthorized immigrants, according to the White House.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has also sought to end D.C. policies that bar local police from most collaboration with federal immigration authorities and from arrests of people solely for being in the country illegally. That issue is still being contested as part of a court battle expected to continue this week, but a federal judge allowed the administration on Friday to require the city’s help on immigration enforcement for now.
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