{"id":70816,"date":"2025-08-15T18:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T18:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/70816\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T18:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T18:15:09","slug":"dozens-arrested-in-washington-as-trumps-law-enforcement-takeover-takes-root","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/70816\/","title":{"rendered":"Dozens arrested in Washington as Trump’s law enforcement takeover takes root"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local and federal law enforcement officers are being stationed round-the-clock in Washington, DC following US President Donald Trump’s unprecedented announcement to send in the National Guard.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the president announced he would take over the city’s police department and dispatch the National Guard in the city<\/a> for at least a month.<\/p>\n

The White House has revealed there were 45 arrests in Washington on Wednesday night as Mr Trump’s takeover took root.<\/p>\n

Twenty-nine were reportedly living in the country illegally.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A member of the military in a vehicle near the Lincoln Memorial. (Reuters: Jose Luis Gonzalez)<\/p>\n

The push also includes clearing out encampments of homeless people and relocating them far from the city, though details of that plan are unclear.<\/p>\n

While the National Guard will be able to temporarily detain people while assisting law enforcement, its troops will not have the power to arrest, according to the Pentagon.<\/p>\n

Reassignments not a security risk, Trump says<\/p>\n

More than 1,650 people are now participating in the law enforcement operation, the White House said.<\/p>\n

Trial could spell trouble for Trump as he deploys National Guard in DC<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Trump is pushing the bounds of military activity on American soil, but a 150-year-old law could spell trouble for his plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That includes officers for the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency being reassigned.<\/p>\n

But Mr Trump had no qualms about the possibility of those moves creating security risks.<\/p>\n

“Like what? Like what?” Trump said.<\/p>\n

A reporter suggested moving federal officials could compromise efforts to stop terrorism.<\/p>\n

“Oh, really, terrorism?” the president replied.<\/p>\n

“They’ll stop terrorism as part of what they’re doing right now.”<\/p>\n

The president denied officials he sent into Washington streets to fight crime had been pulled away from priority assignments.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump said he is using a “very small force” of soldiers, adding that city police are now allowed to do their job under his takeover of the department.<\/p>\n

“And no, they’re not being pulled off for anything,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Department of Homeland Security Investigations agents joined police officers conducting traffic checks on Wednesday.\u00a0 (AP: Alex Brandon)<\/p>\n

Police cooperation a ‘great step’<\/p>\n

The District of Columbia police chief stepped up cooperation between her officers and federal immigration officials.<\/p>\n

Is crime on the rise in Washington DC?<\/a><\/p>\n

Donald Trump has announced a federal takeover of Washington DC’s police force, saying the city is “becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness”. But is this true?<\/p>\n

Following Chief Pamela Smith’s order, officers are now able to share information with immigration agencies regarding people not in custody \u2014 such as someone involved in a traffic stop or checkpoint.<\/p>\n

Metropolitan Police Department officers may also provide “transportation for federal immigration employees and detained subject”, the order said.<\/p>\n

The changes, which raise collaboration between the two forces in notable ways, erodes the district’s long-standing policy against cooperating with civil immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

Asked about the order in the Oval Office, Mr Trump said it was a “very positive thing”.<\/p>\n

“That’s a great step. That’s a great step if they’re doing that.”<\/p>\n

For homeless residents, an uncertain time is at hand<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, about a dozen homeless residents in Washington packed up their belongings with help from volunteers from charitable groups and staffers from some city agencies.<\/p>\n

Items largely were not forcibly thrown out by law enforcement, but a garbage truck idled nearby.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

George M, who had been living at a tent encampment, packed up his belongings on Thursday. (AP: Jacquelyn Martin)<\/p>\n

Several protesters held signs close by, some critical of the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Once the residents had left, a construction vehicle from a city agency cleared through the remains of the tents.<\/p>\n

The departures were voluntary, but they came in response to a clear threat from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Advocates expect law enforcement officers to fan out across DC in the coming days to forcibly take down any remaining homeless encampments.<\/p>\n

In Washington Circle, which still contains a few tents, city workers put up signs announcing “general cleanup of this public space” starting at 10am Monday.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Law enforcement will take up a heavy round-the-clock presence under Donald Trump’s crime prevention plan.\u00a0 (Reuters: Evelyn Hockstein)<\/p>\n

For two days, small groups of federal officers have been visible in scattered parts of the city.<\/p>\n

But more were present in high-profile locations on Wednesday night, and troops were expected to start doing more missions on Thursday.<\/p>\n

AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Local and federal law enforcement officers are being stationed round-the-clock in Washington, DC following US President Donald Trump’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2490,43,55690,55689,55688,44,41,39,42,40,50105],"class_list":{"0":"post-70816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-homeless","11":"tag-homeless-encampments","12":"tag-national-guard","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-top-news","15":"tag-top-stories","16":"tag-topnews","17":"tag-topstories","18":"tag-washington-dc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}