Daijiworld Media Network - Washington

Washington, Aug 29: What began as a quiet Friday night for massage therapist Juan Carlos Dela Torre, 37, ended in handcuffs after federal officers arrested him in Washington, DC, for smoking a joint. Officials said a small amount of MDMA was also found. “You guys are worried about some guy smoking a joint on the corner on a Friday night?” he told The New York Times, describing the sudden flood of police.

The arrest is among nearly 1,000 since President Donald Trump launched what he called a mission to “rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor.” In mid-August, elite federal agencies including the FBI and Secret Service were deployed across the city with checkpoints, patrols, and undercover stings.

Authorities claim the surge has brought results, citing a 45% drop in violent crime and a 12% fall in property crime in just two weeks. But arrest records show a different picture — most cases involve minor infractions. Over half are linked to drugs or firearms, some owned legally elsewhere but not in DC, while 18% are tied to traffic and petty violations like open alcohol bottles. Only 9% directly relate to violent or property crimes.

One arrest stemmed from a $20 cocaine buy-and-bust, while another over an open tequila bottle escalated to a felony gun charge. The approach has drawn comparisons to 1990s “broken windows” policing. Critics argue it is more about optics than safety. “People who are not the problem are being locked up to create optics,” said activist Ron Moten.

The crackdown has disproportionately affected Black residents, who make up just over 40% of DC’s population. Many arrests are concentrated in Ward 8, an area with high violent crime rates but also long-standing community distrust.

Residents say daily life now feels policed to the extreme. Kimberly Mitchell, who paid $175 for tinted car windows, said she now plans to remove them for fear of arrest. For Dela Torre, the surge has made familiar streets feel like a “federal dragnet.”