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FIRST ON FOX: President Donald Trump’s D.C. crime crackdown has led to 1,914 arrests since Aug. 7 — including dozens Thursday night, among them an illegal immigrant on a terrorist watch list and a person of interest tied to a gun found abandoned on school property, Fox News Digital has learned.
Hundreds of National Guard members, as well as the Metropolitan Police Department and personnel from federal agencies, such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Capitol Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have taken to the streets of D.C. to conduct sweeps and root out crime since August as part of Trump's crackdown on rampant crime.
Law enforcement officials arrested a total of 73 individuals Thursday evening, including an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who is currently on the terrorist watch list; an illegal immigrant from Colombia and confirmed Florencia 13 gang member with prior arrests for grand theft, carjacking and bringing narcotics/alcohol in detention facility; an individual arrested on a warrant for attempted first degree murder (knife), first degree assault; another arrested on warrant for assault with intent to kill while armed; and an illegal from Bolivia arrested with prior criminal arrests for domestic batter/abuse, felonious assault, abduction by force without justification and driving while intoxicated.
TRUMP DECLARES DC A 'CRIME FREE ZONE' AMID HIS FEDERAL CRACKDOWN
Another unnamed individual was arrested Thursday evening for carrying a firearm without a license and violation of the National Firearms Act. That individual was identified as a person of interest in an incident involving an abandoned gun found at a school Sept. 3, Fox News Digital learned. Law enforcement contacted the suspect via phone and agreed to surrender to officers, according to the White House.
Law enforcement notably rescued a child who was reported missing during Thursday's operation. The crime crackdown in D.C. has led to the rescue of six missing children since Aug. 7, Fox Digital learned.
"Thanks to President Trump, some of the most dangerous criminals who have committed heinous crimes have been removed from the streets of Washington, D.C.," White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News Digital Friday. "For far too long, these criminals have been able to commit crime after crime without any accountability — but President Trump has restored law and order to our nation’s capital."
"As a result of President Trump’s tough-on-crime policies, federal law enforcement operations have removed nearly 2,000 dangerous criminals, lethal drugs, and deadly weapons from the city which is a win for all D.C. residents and visitors," she continued.
The White House provided Fox Digital with a handful of photos showing handguns and illegal substances recovered during the arrests this week.
DC ARRESTS SURPASS 1,000 AS TRUMP-BACKED CRACKDOWN ENTERS 12TH HOMICIDE-FREE DAY
All in, the crime crackdown has yielded 17 arrests of violent gangbangers, including members of MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, while a total of 198 firearms have been seized. The operation has also led to the clearance of 50 different homeless encampments across the city.
Trump federalized the Metropolitan Police Department Aug. 11 in response to a spate of high-profile killings and attacks in the city, following a dangerous crime wave that washed over the country, including D.C., beginning in 2020. Trump federalized the local police department under section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which allows the president to assume emergency control of the capital's police force for 30 days.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll published a memo Wednesday extending the National Guard's presence specifically in D.C. through Nov. 30. The memo stated the extension is "to continue supporting the President's ongoing efforts to restore law and order in the District of Columbia," Fox News previously reported.
D.C. recorded 13 days of 0 homicides in August shortly after Trump federalized the city, with law enforcement racking up a lengthy list of suspected criminals stretching from drug distributors to illegal immigrants to those carrying illegal firearms in the city.
Trump has since floated deploying the National Guard to other cities to help curb crime, including Chicago and Baltimore, which has earned strong rebuke from local leaders who have said the crackdown is unnecessary as crime data show violent trends have slowed since the 2020 era and that Trump is promoting authoritarianism.
"This is exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against," Democratic Illinois JB Pritzker told the media in August while slamming Trump's suggestions of National Guard deployment.
"What Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American," he added.
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