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.
A White House official said immigration enforcement was only a portion of the administration’s larger campaign to stop crime in Washington. Many of the unauthorized immigrants arrested by 22 multiagency teams across the city’s wards over the past week have had outstanding criminal charges, including sexual solicitation, possession with intent to distribute illegal drugs and negligent driving endangering life and property, the official said.
In a statement, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said, “The focus of the efforts in D.C. is to address violent crime and make the city safe for ALL.”
But in announcing his intention to take over law enforcement in Washington, Mr. Trump made repeated references to the issue of illegal immigration. He pledged to eradicate crime as he had migration at the Southern border, criticized the city’s Democratic leaders over immigration policies and suggested that migrants were among the homeless people and criminals who needed to be removed from the streets.
“This city will no longer be a sanctuary for illegal alien criminals,” President Trump said. “We will have full, seamless, integrated cooperation at all levels of law enforcement, and we’ll deploy officers across the district with an overwhelming presence.”
About 95,000 immigrants live in Washington, making up about 14 percent of the city’s population, according to U.S. census data from 2023. Some 25,000 of them do not have legal permission to be in the country, according to the Pew Research Center. A report from the city’s Office of Revenue Analysis in 2017 found that immigrants made up more than a quarter of the D.C. work force, including a majority of its carpenters, domestic workers, chefs, cooks and taxi drivers.
Washington is only the latest battleground in a long-running fight between President Trump and liberal cities, counties and states that have considered themselves as “sanctuaries” for immigrants. In May, his administration put some 600 “sanctuary jurisdictions,” including D.C., on notice that they might lose federal funds.
The nation’s capital once proudly called itself a “sanctuary city,” and city agencies and schools still provide robust health and social services for undocumented families. But in recent years, Mayor Muriel Bowser was among Democratic mayors sounding the alarm, as migration levels at the Southern border mounted under the Biden administration and the city found itself grappling to shelter migrants.
As President Trump came back into office, Ms. Bowser further shifted on the issue. Earlier this year, Washington removed from its website mentions of the “sanctuary city” term, and Ms. Bowser stopped using the phrase herself, saying it could mislead people into thinking Washington was a place where “you can violate immigration laws.” She later moved to repeal the city’s sanctuary law with several lines in the 2026 budget proposal, but the City Council rejected the effort.
Around the city last week, some immigrants who were interviewed said they had supported Mr. Trump as he ran for president in 2024 promising to tackle crime and drug trafficking.
A few said they welcomed the president’s efforts in the city, saying that any drop in crime would be worth the new presence of National Guard members and federal agents along the streets. In New Carrollton, a Maryland suburb, Funke Akinya said she had tended to remove her gold bracelets before heading into D.C., for fear of being robbed.
“If it is for the betterment of the community, if it’s something that eradicates crime, it’s good,” said Ms. Akinya, a community support worker from Nigeria who has legal residency. “It’s not about color, not about immigrants. It’s for people to live and be safe.”
But scenes of military officers on the streets have alarmed even some who have supported Mr. Trump more broadly in the past. Some said the images brought up memories of the authoritarian countries that they had fled to come here — places where officers could harass people on the streets for documentation and where people sometimes vanished without explanation.
On recent evenings around the city, delivery drivers on mopeds no longer lingered in the streets chatting with one another and waiting for orders. Street vendors, too, said they were wary of coming out.
Near Columbia Heights, a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city, an 18-year-old stood high on a ladder, repainting an awning of a grocery store. The man, who shared only his first name, Andy, said he had come from El Salvador by entering South Texas during the Biden administration and had received temporary legal residency and a work permit.
In recent months, he said, some of his friends and co-workers have had their legal statuses revoked. His 25-year-old brother, who has a type of temporary protected status that Mr. Trump has threatened to rescind, has begun carrying himself differently, he said, adding that his brother doesn’t joke or laugh as much these days. “He just isn’t the same,” Andy said.
Many of the immigrants interviewed said they now carry their green cards and work permits, worried about agents accusing them of being in the country improperly. Unauthorized immigrants said they had tried to limit their outings and had asked their friends with legal status for rides to school and work. One barbershop owner told immigrant rights advocates that his employees slept in his shop one night last week, fearful to step out.
Outside of their parents’ boba and ice cream truck in the National Mall, Nguyen and Hai Bui, 19-year-old twins who immigrated from Vietnam in 2014, said they no longer saw many of the international students who used to serve customers in trucks alongside theirs.
When Nguyen Bui first heard that Mr. Trump was preparing to crack down on crime, he said he believed it could be good for the family business by helping bring more tourists into a town that was perceived as safer.
But Mr. Bui, who said he had permanent legal residence, described being questioned by immigration officers twice within a few hours on Thursday. He said his heart dropped each time as agents told him he looked like someone they were looking for.
“The way they are doing this, I don’t like it,” he said.
Campbell Robertson and Zach Montague contributed reporting.