Armed Officers place handcuffs on a man from within an apartment complex, Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025, in the Petworth neighborhood of northwest Washington. The officers pictured had "Washington Field Office" on their shirts underneath tactical gear that said Police. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)2025-08-19T19:27:10Z WASHINGTON (AP) The main drag in Washingtons Columbia Heights neighborhood is typically crammed with people peddling pupusas, fresh fruit, souvenirs and clothing. On Tuesday, though, things felt different: The white tents that bulge with food and merchandise were scarcer than usual.Everything has stopped over the last week, said Yassin Yahyaoui, who sells jewelry and glass figurines. Most of his customers and fellow vendors, he said, have just disappeared particularly if they speak Spanish.The abnormally quiet street was one of many pieces of evidence showing how President Donald Trump s decision to flood the nations capital with federal law enforcement and immigration agents has rippled through the city. While troop deployments and foot patrols in downtown areas and around the National Mall have gotten the most attention, life in historically diverse neighborhoods like Columbia Heights is being reshaped as well. The White House has credited Trumps crackdown with hundreds of arrests, while local officials have criticized the aggressive intervention in the citys affairs. The confrontation escalated on Tuesday as the top federal prosecutor in D.C. opened an investigation into whether police officials have falsified crime data, according to a person familiar with the situation who wasnt authorized to comment publicly. The probe could be used to bolster Trumps claims that the city is suffering from a crime emergency despite statistics showing improvements. The mayors office and the police department declined to comment. Stops are visible across the cityBlocks away from where Yahyaoui had set up shop, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and local police stopped a moped driver delivering pizza. The agents drove unmarked cars and wore tactical vests; one covered his face with a green balaclava. They questioned the driver and required him to present documentation relating to his employment and legal residency status. No arrest was made.The White House said there have been 450 arrests since Aug. 7, when the federal operation began. The Trump administration has ramped up immigration enforcement and the president signed an executive order on Aug. 11 to put the police department under federal control for 30 days; extending that would require congressional approval. Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Trump was unapologetically standing up for the safety of law-abiding American citizens.Bystanders have captured some of the arrests on video. On Saturday morning, Christian Enrique Carias Torres was detained during a scuffle with ICE agents, and the footage ricocheted around social media. An FBI agents affidavit said Carias Torres kicked one of the agents in the leg and another was injured when he fell during the struggle and struck his head on the pavement. A stun gun was used to subdue Carias Torres, who was charged Tuesday with resisting arrest. An alphabet soup of federal agencies have been circulating in the city. In the Petworth neighborhood, roughly 20 officers from the FBI, Homeland Security, Park Police and U.S. Marshals descended on an apartment building on Tuesday morning. A man extended his hands out a window while officers cuffed him. Yanna Stelle, 19, who witnessed the incident, said she heard the chatter from walkie talkies as officers moved through the hallways. That was too many police first thing in the morning especially for them to just be doing a warrant, she said. More National Guard troops from other states are slated to arriveFrom his actions and remarks, Trump seems interested in ratcheting up the pressure. His administration has asked Republican-led states to send more National Guard troops. Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio have agreed to deploy a total of 1,100 troops to the city, on top of the 800 from the D.C.-based National Guard.Resistance to that notion is starting to surface, both on the streets and in Congress. On Tuesday, Democratic Rep. Sam Liccardo of California introduced a bill that would require a report outlining the cost of any National Guard deployment unrelated to a natural disaster, as well as its legal basis. It would also require reporting on any Guard interactions with civilians and other aspects of the operation. Forty four Democrats have signed on in support, including Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washingtons non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives. While the measure stands little chance of passing while Republicans control the chamber, its a sign of a wider Democratic response to Trumps unprecedented moves in Washington.Are L.A. and D.C. a test run for a broader authoritarian takeover of local communities? Liccardo asked. He added that the countrys founders were suspicious of executive control of standing armies.Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said that Democrats continue to side with criminals over law abiding Americans. What kind of assistance will be offered? Its unclear what kind of help the National Guard will be able to provide when it comes to crime.The fact of the matter is that the National Guard are not law-enforcement trained, and theyre not going into places where they would be engaged in law enforcement activity, said Jeff Asher, a crime analyst and consultant at AH Datalytics. So I dont know that its fair to expect much of it.Trump declared in a social media post that his initiative has transformed Washington from the most unsafe city in the United States to perhaps the safest, and getting better every single hour!The number of crimes reported in D.C. did drop by about 8% this week as compared to the week before, according to Metropolitan Police data. There was some variation within that data, with crimes like robberies and car thefts declining while burglaries increased a bit and homicides remained.Still, a week is a small sample size far from enough time for data to show meaningful shifts, Asher said. Referring to the month-long period that D.C.s home rule law allows the president to exert control over the police department, he said: I think 30 days is too short of a period to really say anything.___Associated Press writers Michael Kunzelman, Alanna Durkin Richer, Jacquelyn Martin and Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report. MATT BROWN Brown covers national politics, federal policy and democracy issues for The Associated Press. twitter instagram mailto LINDSAY WHITEHURST Whitehurst covers the Supreme Court and legal affairs for The Associated Press. Shes won multiple journalism awards in a career thats spanned two decades. twitter mailto CHRIS MEGERIAN Megerian covers the White House for The Associated Press. He previously wrote about the Russia investigation, climate change, law enforcement and politics in California and New Jersey. twitter mailto RSShttps://feedx.net https://feedx.site