On a single night during President Donald Trump's federalization of Washington, D.C., 29 illegal immigrants were arrested, according to a press briefing by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday.
A total of 45 arrests were made Wednesday night by hundreds of Metropolitan Police and National Guard troops deployed to the area.
“There were 29 illegal aliens removed off of Washington, D.C.’s streets last night. Many of whom had final orders for removal,” Leavitt said. “So these results are happening night after night because of the efforts of this federal task force that are working alongside the Metropolitan Police Department who agree with this effort.”
Charges against the 45 individuals included assault of a police officer, fugitive apprehensions, the possession of child sex abuse material and illegal firearms, along with drug trafficking and an assault on an officer with a Subway sandwich, FBI Director Kash Patel said on X. Three illegal firearms were also seized.
Leavitt also cited a poll in the Washington Post in May, which said 65% of residents in the nation's capital think crime is an "extremely" or "very serious" problem.
“In fact, the Metropolitan Police Department Union stated that President Trump is right to do this, that crime has been totally out of control in the city and the residents of Washington, maybe not the journalists, because they don’t want to admit President Trump is right who live here, but the residents agree according to a Washington Post poll that 65% of D.C. residents say that crime is a very serious problem in the District of Columbia,” Leavitt said.
Border czar Tom Homan said on Wednesday that ICE is working with law enforcement in D.C. to turn around its status as a sanctuary city.
It was the third night since Trump decided to federalize D.C.
There were 23 arrests on the first night and 43 on the second. The charges for those arrests included homicide, firearm offenses, lewd acts, stalking, and possession of a high-capacity magazine.
The media has attempted to portray violent crime as being at a low point in D.C. to insinuate that Trump is acting like a dictator by exerting federal jurisdiction over the district, but then allegations broke earlier this week that accused police higher-ups of manipulating crime data to make violent crime numbers seem lower.
While police statistics seemed to show that violent crime was down 26% in 2025, FBI data only shows a 10% drop.
And even the FBI numbers may be skewed, since union bosses have said that the rank and file were pressured to classify violent crimes as felony assault, which is not recognized as violent crime by the bureau.
Police union President Greggory Pemberton said he agreed with Trump's takeover.
"They are using statistics in a way that makes it appear that crime is down in D.C., but our rank and file know" that it isn't, he told Fox Business.
