WASHINGTON — When National Guard troops were deployed here earlier this month, President Donald Trump promised that they would fight crime and make the streets safe again. But in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights, the takeover has created a real sense of terror for immigrants, who say they feel like they are being racially targeted and living in a dystopian version of the city they love.
Immigrants and immigration advocates told NBC News that the federal takeover of the nation’s capital two weeks ago has left vibrant communities and businesses “deserted.” Both naturalized citizens and those who are in the country illegally said there is a palpable sense of fear now. People are afraid to go grocery shopping, show up to work and go about their daily lives, they said.
Margarita, a 38-year-old mother of four, is an undocumented immigrant who came to the United States from El Salvador. She opened a Latino restaurant earlier this year and said half of her employees are too terrified to come to work.
One employee came in with tears streaming down his face after witnessing an arrest and “how they mistreated people in front of his face,” she said in Spanish.
Another employee came in “trembling with fear” and said he felt like federal officers were like “cats out to catch mice,” she said.
“I can’t in good faith tell people to come to work. If something happened to them, that would be on my conscience,” Margarita said. Her business has been “extremely” affected, she added.
“It feels like a different D.C.,” she said. “It’s horrible to see the way the people are traumatized because of what’s happening.”
Margarita, along with some others NBC News spoke with, asked not to be identified by their full first and last name or to remain anonymous out of fear of being deported or targeted for speaking out.
They said the city’s landscape has been transformed since Trump announced the federal takeover on Aug. 11 with the goal of fighting crime and ramping up immigration arrests. He has sent more than 2,200 National Guard troops, who now carry firearms, and hundreds more federal agents to Washington. At the time of his announcement, violent crime had decreased 26% compared to last year, according to D.C. police data. Last week, the Justice Department said it was investigating whether Washington police manipulated data to make crime rates appear lower.
A White House official said Tuesday that more than 1,000 total arrests have been made since the National Guard were called in. The official declined to specify how many of those were immigration arrests, but said “less than half of all arrests have involved illegal aliens.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that the focus of the takeover was to “make D.C. safe and beautiful and to remove public safety threats and violent criminals from our streets.”
“If federal law enforcement, with the help of the Metropolitan Police Department, come across illegal aliens, of course, we are going to abide by this Administration’s policy of law and order and we are going to remove illegal criminals from our Nation’s capital,” she said.
The administration has highlighted arrests of alleged gang members, or those with a history of being arrested or convicted for violent crimes, including allegations of assault and child sexual abuse.
Washington residents said they have witnessed arrests by groups of what appeared to be immigration agents in the streets. Some said they are increasingly seeing checkpoints where officers are stopping every vehicle and asking drivers for their licenses.
Granados, a naturalized American citizen originally from El Salvador who has lived in the U.S. for about 40 years, said in Spanish that he and many other Latinos feel that “there’s been racial profiling here against us. Our people are hidden because of fear.” He asked that his full name not be used out of fear he could be targeted even though he is a citizen.
Granados said he was walking in the center of Columbia Heights, where there is a large immigrant community, when he saw federal agents “grab two men, they were tying them up as I passed by and they pushed them and threw them into a car and left.”
“I didn’t sleep, I felt terrible,” he said, his voice welling with emotion.
He said he personally knows people who worked in his industry, remodeling, who have been arrested. “They’re people who haven’t done anything. They mistreat you without knowing who you are,” he said.
The Trump administration has denied claims of racial profiling in its immigration arrests.
“Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE. What makes someone a target of ICE is that they are in our country illegally — not their skin color. These types of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement,” Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News this month.
Amy Fisher, a core organizer with the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid network in Washington, D.C., said the group has been ramping up deliveries to immigrants of essentials such as “food and diapers and other things they can’t buy because they’re not going to work and struggling to make ends meet, and others are too afraid to go to the grocery store.”
The group has also seen an “exponential” increase in calls to its hotline, where people can report immigration enforcement actions that are then relayed to the community.
“The hotline is just sort of ringing off the hook,” Fisher said. Previously it would get a few dozen calls a week, but after the takeover it received 500 calls from Monday to Friday during the first week of the federal takeover.
Employees and owners of businesses in Columbia Heights told NBC News the federal takeover has left their businesses hurting as workers and customers alike have disappeared.
Genesis Quintero Lemus, 20, a green card holder from El Salvador who is a fruit vendor alongside her mother, said people are weighing the risk of remaining open.
“A lot of us can’t really afford staying home, because this is our only livelihood,” she said. “I know a lot of the workers, and I know they’re hard-working people who are just there to provide for their families.”
People have also been scared because of recent immigration raids and arrests nearby, including at a Latino grocery store, Quintero Lemus said.
“Who are they targeting? To me, it seems that they’re racial profiling,” said a bakery employee in Columbia Heights who is a naturalized citizen from El Salvador.
She said business is down and employers are cutting work hours because of the decrease in customers. The constant presence of federal law enforcement has also made people afraid to be out in the street, she added.
“Having them here doesn’t make me feel safe. I don’t feel safe at all,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous even though she is a citizen out of fear she could be targeted for speaking out.
“I get scared that just because of my complexion, I’m going to be taken, and I am a U.S. citizen,” she said.
Aris Compres, the owner of a Dominican Srestaurant in the area, also said the takeover has been “terrible for business.”
He said his message to Trump was: “It’s not working. It’s an attack on the community. That’s the way we’re seeing it. We’re the ones feeling the effects, everyone, the business owners, the community.”
Daniella Silva reported from New York City, and Megan Lebowitz from Washington, D.C.
