WASHINGTON — Along the streets of the nation’s capital, signs planted in front yards exclaim “Free DC,” neighbors keep watch to ensure immigrant children walking to school are protected, and short bike rides are routinely interrupted by sightings of federal agents milling about and troops carrying guns.
The fight for control over Washington’s streets these days is not — as President Donald Trump portrays it — much of a clash between law enforcement and would-be criminals. Instead, it’s mostly between the swarms of federal agents and troops disrupting everyday life in the district and the vast majority of city residents who want them to go away.
Now, as the prospect of Trump sending a surge of federal forces to Chicago rises daily, the Washington occupation provides insights into what a Chicago incursion could entail. What Chicago experiences is unlikely to be exactly like what’s happening in Washington and might, in fact, more closely resemble Trump’s efforts several months ago in Los Angeles, but there are clear parallels between the Washington takeover and what Trump appears to have planned for Chicago.
The Republican president has repeatedly criticized both Washington and Chicago — Democratic bastions led by Black mayors — for out-of-control street crime, despite crime rates dropping in the two cities. But in both instances, it appears the White House’s main focus will be on ramping up immigration enforcement by utilizing an influx of federal forces to carry out aggressive tactics.
If the backlash to Trump’s tactics in Washington is any indication, though, the president could spark widespread resistance among the Chicago residents he claims to want to protect.
“It’s important for people to be clear-eyed about where we are in this moment in history,” said D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker, who grew up in Chicago and graduated from Northwestern University. “This is bigger than D.C. It’s bigger than Chicago. This is about an attempt to step out of the bounds of democracy, to send the military and tanks to American cities. Some would say it’s un-American. I would argue it is unconstitutional.”
District residents have shown through protests and placards their displeasure with Trump’s Aug. 11 decision to flood the city with National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers.
But they’ve done so in more clever ways as well.
Residents are warning motorists and citizens about the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents by reporting “icy” road conditions on the Waze traffic app and posting photos of checkpoints to neighborhood Facebook groups. Fans at a Washington Spirit women’s soccer game chanted “Free D.C.!” in the 51st minute of the contest (many Washington residents refer to D.C. as the 51st state). More than 1,700 people have called the Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid hotline since the takeover began to report ICE checkpoints and connect with legal services for immigration cases.
Perhaps most effectively, residents have taken to the streets themselves. When big gatherings of police and federal agents suddenly show up in residential areas, crowds often meet them with cell phone cameras, righteous indignation and insults. Their presence has stymied some operations. In other cases, residents have documented arrests and reminded people getting questioned by cops of their legal rights.
Community members warn drivers of a checkpoint staffed by the Metropolitan Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, on North Capitol Street in Washington on Aug. 25, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty)
“We have seen an incredible spirit of defiance in D.C.,” said Keya Chatterjee, the executive director of Free DC, the most prominent group opposing Trump’s military and law enforcement buildup. “We’ve seen people chase ICE out of Columbia Heights,” she said, referring to an ethnically diverse neighborhood 2 miles north of the White House. “We’ve seen people direct traffic away from checkpoints. We’ve seen (residents) heckle these gangs of armed federal agents until they release people.”
Organizers from Chicago — as well as from Boston, New York and other cities that might be subjected to takeovers — have reached out to Free DC to glean lessons from their resistance efforts, Chatterjee said.
What precisely a federal crackdown in Chicago would look like remains unclear. Reports indicate there will be a ramped-up effort of ICE and other federal agents focused on immigration. But Trump has also repeatedly said he views the takeover of the district as a blueprint for cracking down on other Democratic cities, despite those cities being far more insulated from federal interference than D.C. under the Constitution.
In a fundraising email sent Thursday night, Trump’s campaign wrote simply: “CHICAGO IS NEXT.”
“Chicago clearly has a crime problem — with the most murders of any U.S. city for 13 consecutive years — that has destroyed the lives of many law-abiding Americans,” said Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson. “President Trump is keeping his promise to implement commonsense, tough-on-crime policies.”
State officials are likely to challenge any deployment of troops to the city for crime-fighting or immigration enforcement, arguing it would violate federal law and the U.S. Constitution.
The district’s unique legal position as a federal enclave, on the other hand, means it is more vulnerable to presidential prerogatives than Chicago, said Paul Gowder, a law professor at Northwestern University.
Armed members of the National Guard patrol along the H Street corridor in Washington on Aug. 29, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty)
In fact, sending troops to Chicago would violate legal boundaries in the Constitution even more than Trump sending Marines and National Guard to California in June or the president taking over D.C.’s law enforcement apparatus, Gowder said. In California, Trump justified the troop deployment to protect federal buildings and support federal immigration activities. In Washington, the president is specifically granted special powers by law to take control of the police departments in times of emergencies.
“But if the National Guard or Marines or whoever shows up in Chicago because Chicago has too much crime, then you really have all of the boundaries crossed,” Gowder said, noting the federal government has no day-to-day role in fighting crime.
He added that protests are important to contesting situations like the federal takeover of D.C. and a potential military intervention in Chicago, which he called “genuine bids for authoritarian power.”
“One thing that political scientists know about authoritarian regimes is that they really depend on uncertainty in the public about the degree of support for the regime,” Gowder said. “What allows authoritarian regimes to get going and also keeps them from being toppled is everybody being afraid to signal that they oppose the regime, because they don’t think their neighbors will be behind them. So public protest is a real important signal of widespread opposition to this kind of conduct.”
Trump asserts control over D.C.
There is a paradox to living in Washington. It is the seat of American democracy, and yet the most cherished features of that democracy do not apply here.
Washington has no vote in Congress, no control over its National Guard, and no ability to set its own traffic laws, marijuana regulations or carjacking penalties without the prospect of congressional interference. Congress can even block the district from spending its own tax money, as it did when it prevented D.C. from spending $1 billion earlier this year without explanation. The district’s license plates invoke a Revolutionary War-era slogan usually consigned to history textbooks: “Taxation without representation.”
Trump has long had an antagonistic relationship with the capital, where only 6.5% of voters supported him in the 2024 election. In his first term, Trump deployed military forces during the 2020 protests over the police killing of George Floyd but declined to activate them to quell the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot of Trump supporters at the Capitol.
Two Oshkosh M-ATV vehicles and soldiers with the 30th Armored Combat Brigade from the South Carolina National Guard are outside of Union Station in Washington on Aug. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)
In his second term, Trump immediately began to decimate the federal workforce and canceled billions of dollars of contracts held by D.C.-area companies and nonprofits. The moves sent shock waves through the local economy and spread anxiety among D.C. residents.
Trump’s order to take over the D.C. police force came less than a week after a 19-year-old staffer for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative was assaulted in the city’s Logan Circle neighborhood. D.C. police interrupted the attack on Edward Coristine, the staffer known as “Big Balls,” and arrested two 15-year-olds from Maryland for attempted carjacking.
The president also mobilized D.C.’s National Guard, which is under presidential control, brought in Guard troops from Republican-led states and tasked law enforcement agents from 20 other federal agencies to work with local police on anti-crime initiatives.
Some of the forces Trump dispatched to Washington seem to be deployed mainly for show.
Guard units gather in groups on the National Mall, in front of the Lincoln Memorial or Washington Monument, and at Union Station near the Capitol. The 2,300 Guard troops wear fatigues, carry M17 pistols and M4 rifles, and congregate around large military vehicles that seem ill-fitted for missions on the narrow streets of nearby neighborhoods. Recently, some Guard troops have been tasked with picking up trash and spreading mulch, jobs that have been neglected after Musk’s DOGE task force purged a significant portion of the federal workforce.
Air National Guard airmen work clearing leaves and debris from McPherson Square Park in Washington on Aug. 28, 2025. (Andrew Leyden/Getty)
But it’s a different story where most Washingtonians work and live. After taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department, Trump flooded the streets with officers from federal law enforcement agencies, large and small. They have forcibly removed people sleeping in federal parks. Several federal agencies and the local police department have deployed helicopters to circle over neighborhoods at all hours, too.
During a 3-mile bike ride from Dupont Circle to Congress Heights, Chatterjee said she encountered DEA agents, soldiers carrying pistols, municipal police and ICE agents “in these new ICE SUVs. … It looked like they were driving in circles.”
“There’s this never-ending feeling of surveillance, fear and anxiety and then wondering, ‘What am I supposed to do about it?” said Bree Ryback, a resident of northeast D.C. with children in public schools. “There’s this extra level of suspicion, of caution. When I walk my dog now, instead of reading my phone, I’m looking for out-of-state plates with tinted windows, because those tend to be the ones that are coming in on ICE reports.”
Together, the officers from the disparate agencies form large crews to pull over motorists, serve warrants, block people from jumping fare gates at Metro subway stations, and crack down on low-level crimes such as drug possession and public intoxication.
Nearly 1,200 arrests have been made in Washington since the surge of federal law enforcement, according to the White House. Meanwhile, immigration-related arrests have been 10 times higher than they were before the surge, according to a CNN analysis.
Local advocates say the crackdown has focused mainly on immigrants, Black teens and people experiencing homelessness.
The Washington Metropolitan Police Department, along with ICE and other federal law enforcement officers, conduct a traffic safety checkpoint on Aug. 28, 2025, in Washington. (Andrew Leyden/Getty)
Last week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said there was a 15% decrease in overall crime compared with the same period last year. The crime rate had already decreased by 7% this year before the federal surge. Carjackings dropped by 87% compared with the same period in 2024.
“We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what MPD has been able to do in this city,” Bowser told reporters Wednesday, shortly after talking with Trump. Bowser said she opposed some aspects of the surge, though, including masked ICE agents and out-of-town Guard troops.
But D.C. residents overwhelmingly object to the federal takeover, according to a recent Washington Post poll. About 8 in 10 respondents said they opposed Trump’s executive order to take over the Police Department, with strong opposition across demographic groups.
Parker, the D.C. councilmember, criticized Bowser for her comments. “They do nothing but legitimize an illegitimate agenda to undermine democracy in American cities and arguably across this country,” Parker said. “It’s dangerous.”
He noted that the Trump administration had already circulated her comments as White House officials push for interventions in more U.S. cities.
Economic disruption
Business leaders are still determining how Trump’s aggressive moves and negative characterization of D.C. are affecting the local economy.
A representative for Destination DC, a nonprofit organization promoting tourism in the area, said the group won’t have 2025 tourism numbers until next year, but said no major events have yet been canceled in light of the takeover.
Armed members of the National Guard patrol along the H Street corridor in Washington on Aug. 29, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty)
Still, Illinois tourism leaders said a federal intervention could undermine recent efforts to attract tourists by making them feel safer and more welcome.
“Deploying federal troops to Chicago risks undermining that progress,” said Michael Jacobson, the president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association. “We have seen how these actions in other cities created confusion and sent the wrong message to potential visitors.”
Jaime di Paulo, president and CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, said restaurant owners he knows in Washington told him customers are staying away during the surge, either opting to stay home or eat in the Virginia or Maryland suburbs.
“I’m from Mexico. I’ve seen firsthand what it feels like to have the army on the streets. It’s not pleasant,” he added. “You’re driving around and all of a sudden you see a truck with a machine gun pointed at your vehicle. It might not be on purpose but it’s intimidating.”
Washington restaurants initially took a big hit when Trump made his announcement, said Shawn Townsend, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, but they have since recovered.
A driver is arrested at a traffic safety checkpoint conducted by the Washington Metropolitan Police Department, along with ICE and other federal law enforcement officers, on Aug. 28, 2025, in Washington. (Andrew Leyden/Getty)
But Townsend said some of the longer-lasting impacts of the crackdown would be felt by the many immigrants who work in the industry. ICE agents and local police have targeted delivery drivers on mopeds because many are recent immigrants and their vehicles are not properly registered with the city.
“There’s also a concern about immigrant workers not showing up to work out of fear,” he said. “There’s a heightened level of anxiety.”
Organized response
The federal takeover seems to have jolted D.C. residents into action and energized local opposition groups.
Chatterjee, the executive director of Free DC, said her group was first formed on Jan. 18, just two days before Trump’s second inauguration, to prepare for a potential Trump takeover of the district. From the get-go, its meetings were standing room only, she said, because so many people in D.C. were “experiencing the Wild West” and “blatant illegality” of the Trump administration, including unauthorized firing of federal workers and refusal to spend congressionally designated funds.
The group organized by each of the city’s eight wards, designated captains, conducted trainings, hosted social events and gathered 26,000 names on its email list. Its logo, which is based on D.C.’s red-and-white flag, is on T-shirts, in rowhouse windows and on yard signs all around the city.
Keya Chatterjee, executive director of Free DC, speaks on Aug. 28, 2025, during a rally at Dupont Circle in Washington. Activists marched to mark Labor Day and protest the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital. (Alex Wong/Getty)
To build such a big network on short notice, Free DC’s organizers have stressed a few core tenets. They don’t “obey in advance” of directives that federal officials or law enforcement might issue. And they “prioritize joy” by using song, dance, prayer and social gatherings to boost spirits in dark times.
“An oppressor really wants you to feel fear and chaos; that’s their goal,” Chatterjee said.
The organizers stress the need to “take up space,” taking advantage of residents’ familiarity with different parts of the city that Trump’s advisers and visiting police officers aren’t aware of. The signs, clothes, D.C. flags, nightly pot-banging events, bike rides and block parties are designed to keep up morale for local residents and remind outsiders that the people who live there “deserve dignity, and our values deserve to be respected,” Chatterjee explained.
Chatterjee noted that Trump had promised to walk the streets of D.C. with law enforcement personnel but changed his mind, opting instead to meet with police at a secluded Park Police headquarters building.
“He went to deliver some pizza at a police station, and then he got scared and ran right back to the White House, because he’s actually scared of us and he doesn’t know anything about our neighborhoods,” she said.
Another local organization designed to help immigrants, Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, has also been thrust into a prominent role during the Trump takeover.
Activists participate in a march to mark Labor Day and protest the federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital on Aug. 28, 2025 in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty)
The organization collects tips about ICE activity and tries to verify reports of actions, said Amy Fischer, a core organizer with MSMA. It then notifies the public, particularly people in immigrant communities, through various channels about current ICE enforcement actions.
But the group has also collected hundreds of photos and videos taken by bystanders during arrests. The act of recording can sometimes alter the behavior of law enforcement officers, but even if someone is arrested, bystander videos help families locate their missing loved ones and help lawyers representing immigrants by providing evidence in their cases.
The contributions from local residents, Fischer said, “is very much a reflection of a community that is really pissed off with the federal occupation of D.C. and are really doing everything that they can to protect their friends and neighbors.”
Fischer warned, though, that the tactics by Guard troops and federal law enforcement have become more aggressive as the takeover has stretched on. Practices that the D.C. Council banned — like the Metropolitan Police Department working on immigration enforcement with ICE, stop-and-frisk searches and high-speed police chases — have all reemerged under federal control, she said.
“We’re seeing racial profiling of brown people (who) look like they can be immigrants and then being detained with no warrant, no actual due process,” she said.
A demonstrator waves an inverted U.S. flag as members of the National Guard stand next to an armored vehicle outside Union Station in Washington on Aug. 19, 2025. (Alex Wong/Getty)
“Places like D.C. and Chicago and New York in the last few years have really tried to reform local policies to make them more just,” Fischer said. “It seems like all of those advances have been thrown out the window.”
Chatterjee also hopes people in those other cities will support efforts to end Trump’s takeover of the capital so that the tactic doesn’t spread to other American cities.
“I think people in Chicago are already feeling it, but it is in all of our interests across the country to stop it here,” Chatterjee said. The Trump administration “has been able to attack and brutalize the people of D.C. because we don’t have equal representation under the law. … Other places have more protections, but those protections aren’t going to last very long.”
Free DC is organizing a national march in Washington on Sept. 6 to end the federal takeover of D.C. By then, though, Trump may have already ordered Guard troops and federal agents into Chicago.