BURSTA group of Washington residents confronted federal agents and local police officers on Wednesday after law enforcement showed up in their neighborhood to conduct a drug arrest.
Members of the Mount Pleasant neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C., protested the increased law enforcement presence, which focused on an apartment building blocks from a school during morning drop-off, The Associated Press reported.
Residents told gathered officers to “quit your jobs" and said “nobody wants you here,” according to the AP. The pushback comes amid President Trump’s decision to ramp up federal forces in the nation’s capital in an effort to crack down on crime.
“People are on Signal chats and they’re absolutely terrified, and everyone is following this,” one man who had just dropped off his third-grade daughter at nearby Bancroft Elementary School told the AP.
“It’s distressful. We feel invaded, and it’s really terrible,” he added.
Metropolitan Police said they were carrying out a sting on a “suspected drug dealer” and invited immigration enforcement agents to distract from their efforts, the AP reported.
“The immigration folks were parked over there to get y’all to leave us alone,” Sgt. Michael Millsaps told the wire.
At least 10 police cruisers lined the block, witnesses told the AP, which reported that some officers carried riot shields or rifles.
The broader federal crackdown in D.C. has sparked pushback from residents elsewhere in the city, though in many cases the presence of increased law enforcement has gone by without incident.
A Washington Post poll that found most D.C. residents oppose Trump’s takeover of the local police. Sixty-nine percent of participants said they “strongly” oppose the president’s decision to take federal control of D.C. police and 10 percent said they “somewhat” oppose the move.
Trump has repeatedly defended his decision over the past several weeks.
The Hill has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the MPD for comment.