ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Today, the White House said more than 550 arrests have been made since President Trump declared a crime emergency here in Washington, D.C., took control of the city's police department and sent in the National Guard. He declared that emergency even though federal data show the city is much safer than it used to be. Since the order, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other federal law enforcement officers have fanned out across the district. NPR's Jennifer Ludden reports on the impact their presence has had on D.C.'s large immigrant population.
JENNIFER LUDDEN, BYLINE: This commercial stretch of the Columbia Heights neighborhood, where many Latinos live, has not been the same since ICE and other federal agents began showing up. It used to be lined with colorful vendor booths. Now there's just a couple on the corner. Residents say people are anxious and scared. The steady stream of food delivery drivers has also disappeared since one was arrested last week outside Chipotle.
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UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Non-English language spoken).
LUDDEN: In this video posted online by local station WUSA9, several agents with no visible badges, one with a mask, handcuff the young driver next to his moped.
JANET BERNAL: (Non-English language spoken).
LUDDEN: "I think it's very sad for people," says Janet Bernal (ph) as she pushes a toddler in a stroller. "They work hard, pay their taxes and are treated badly." Like several others NPR spoke with, though, she does like the idea of cracking down on criminals. Violent crime was a key issue for Latino voters last year when a record number supported President Trump. But Bernal and others don't like the way this is being carried out. Gabriella Arbona (ph) says she was at the gym when she saw a group of officers burst into the neighboring stores last week.
GABRIELLA ARBONA: When I finished my workout, coming outside, and I saw a lot of people arrested. And the people, it's very scary. Then I don't know what happened.
LUDDEN: Arbona did not like how the agents spoke to the immigrants. It was harsh, without respect, she says. Even though she's here legally, Arbona now says she carries her passport and other papers with her all the time.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: This city will no longer be a sanctuary for illegal alien criminals.
LUDDEN: In announcing he was deploying federal law enforcement agents to D.C., Trump said he wants to override a local law that limits the city's cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
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TRUMP: They'll immediately begin massive enforcement operations targeting known gangs, drug dealers and criminal networks to get them the h*** off the street, maybe get them out of the country 'cause a lot of them came into our country illegally. They shouldn't have been allowed in.
LUDDEN: The White House says the immigrants here illegally who've been arrested so far include gang members. And others have been charged with assault, kidnapping, burglary, commercialized sex offenses and drug smuggling. But an advocate helping manage a local hotline to help immigrants says plenty of people with legal status are also getting detained.
AUSTIN ROSE: They claim that they're here to prevent lawlessness, but we think they're creating lawlessness.
LUDDEN: Austin Rose is an attorney at the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. He worries this operation is eroding trust in law enforcement. He also thinks it's less about reducing crime and more about ICE meeting quotas.
ROSE: ICE has known where they are for a long time and has just decided that they needed to detain these people, not because someone is particularly dangerous or someone is a flight risk. It's just because they're undocumented and they want to detain as many people as they can.
LUDDEN: He and others say this has left many immigrants afraid to leave their homes, even some with legal status and work permits. Local organizers and volunteers are delivering food and helping them get by, hoping the federal crackdown does not last beyond the 30 days D.C. Home Rule law allows, though Trump has said he'd like Congress to extend that.
Jennifer Ludden, NPR News, Washington. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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