Federal Takeover of DC Law Enforcement
In Washington, D.C., the federal government has turned the nation’s
capital into a live experiment in hard-edged policing.
Crime is undeniably down: robberies and car break-ins have plunged,
and some residents and business owners say they finally feel protected. Yet the same operation has flooded the city with federal agents,
traffic checkpoints, and aggressive immigration sweeps that have upended daily life for immigrant workers and mixed‑status families.
This uneasy tradeoff has exposed a raw divide over what “safety” really means.
Supporters see lives saved and streets reclaimed; critics see constitutional lines crossed and local democracy sidelined under the banner of order.
With courts signaling broad federal authority and agencies testing new tactics in real time,
D.C. now sits at the fault line between security and liberty—its outcome a warning, or a blueprint, for the rest of the country.
