‘Living in this terror’: DC mayor shares message to anxious residents during law enforcement surge
August 28, 2025
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.
“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.”
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.
wtop.com
Trump vowed to make Washington streets safer. In one neighborhood, people feel less safe than ever.
Immigrants and immigration advocates said people in neighborhoods like Columbia Heights are afraid to go grocery shopping, show up to work and go about their daily lives.
www.nbcnews.com
‘On edge’: Trump’s military deployment in Washington stirs fear, confusion
Their presence has not directly disrupted traffic, but the Trump administration’s deployment of federal forces – part of its takeover of city policing – has left Washington, DC, residents fearful and confused.
Critics call the federal takeover of US capital, a 'manufactured crisis' aimed at political gain.
www.aljazeera.com
www.theblaze.com
