Dozens of federal agents accompanied by National Guard troops fanned out around an elementary school in Northwest D.C. on Thursday, prompting questions and concerns from some residents while also serving as a vivid reminder of the Trump administration’s continuing and aggressive public safety efforts in the city.
The unexpected yet highly visible deployment — which included a U.S. Park Police helicopter hovering low over the neighborhood — started earlier this morning as students were filtering into Bruce-Monroe Elementary School in Park View.
“We heard a helicopter circling overhead really low,” said one parent who was in the school at the time. “Staff started to ask what was going on, and then some of the group chats in the neighborhood started posting that there’s a National Guard and FBI presence.”
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Parents and neighbors came out to observe, and say they saw groups of National Guard troops accompanying federal agents — including from the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service and Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) — as they walked around the vicinity of the school and fanned out on nearby streets.
“Some parents asked them what they were doing, they said they were being a friendly face and keeping the neighborhood safe and beautiful,” said the parent, who spoke to The Washington Sun on the condition of anonymity.
Chad, who declined to give his last name, said the agents were also handing out fliers offering cash rewards for tips leading to convictions for specific crimes — from $2,500 for illegal guns to $50,000 for murders. (D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department separately offers its own rewards for tips.)
Brady McCarron, a spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service, told The Sun that the agents and troops were in Park View as part of a new effort launched by the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The task force is a federal entity created to coordinate law enforcement efforts in the wake of President Donald Trump’s decision in August 2025 to surge federal agents into the city and deploy the National Guard.
“Each time one of those areas is chosen, it is because there is either a high amount of calls for service, or a high amount of warrants, or an amount of CSOSA checks that need to be performed,” said McCarron.
There was a spate of shootings in Park View in early August — including one that left visible bullet holes close to the school and a nearby recreation center. A similar show of federal force was reported in Brookland earlier this summer.
The presence of federal agents in D.C. has ebbed and flowed over the last year. Initially ICE was more active in D.C. neighborhoods, later replaced by officers from Homeland Security Investigations patrolling alongside MPD. Mayor Muriel Bowser has allowed MPD to work with the federal task force, arguing that having local officers along would better focus federal efforts on violent crime.
In this case, though, MPD spokesman Darran Todd said local officers were not involved. “MPD was made aware of a federal agency presence near an elementary school. MPD members were not involved and were not present on scene,” he wrote in an email.
The National Guard’s presence ramped up over the summer, with more troops seen patrolling the city’s neighborhoods. It has since decreased; there are now just over 3,100 troops in the city, down from almost 5,000 earlier in the summer. Still, the National Guard is expected to maintain its presence in D.C. through 2029.
Park Police has increased its local enforcement efforts in D.C., making more arrests and engaging in high-speed police chases — some of which have ended with injuries and fatalities.
Trump and other federal officials say their efforts have contributed to the decline in crime in D.C. As of this week, homicides are down 30% compared to the same period last year — but overall violent crime is up 8% due to a significant uptick in assaults with dangerous weapons. Critics say crime was decreasing before Trump surged resources into the city, and that federal agents and National Guard troops have antagonized local communities.
“It is scary for my kids to see armed soldiers walking around in large groups with the FBI circling their school and playground,” said the Park View parent who spoke to The Sun. “It makes it seem to them like something really scary is going on outside. As a parent I don’t want my kids to get used to armed guards patrolling the street.”
Last month, residents in Trinidad protested after the National Guard repeatedly staged in the parking lot of the neighborhood’s elementary school.
Chad similarly argued that the presence could be traumatizing for the neighborhood’s Latino population; 65% of the school’s 448 students are Latino. “They see these people and the vests and they think ICE. They are in a constant state of fear. So this is a problem,” he said.
Ward 1 Council member Brianne Nadeau visited the school after hearing of the federal presence, and later said in a statement that she had asked MPD to request that agents and troops not patrol in the school’s direct vicinity. She also said that parents and neighbors would be present outside as kids get out in the afternoon to ensure they can leave safely.
“As the National Guard, ICE, HSI, DEA, and other federal agencies patrol our streets, our residents continue to live in fear. This is unacceptable,” she said in a statement. “Our kids and their families should be able to go to school without feeling intimidated and scared of armed guards lining the sidewalks. Our schools should be welcoming environments for our students, just as our District should welcome all who wish to call it home.”
Nadeau also called on the police chief to rescind the decision to let local officers work with federal agents.
“It’s time for federal agents to leave our communities alone,” she said in the statement.
Ward 4 Council member Janeese Lewis George, the Democratic nominee for mayor, has pledged to limit cooperation with federal law enforcement on the first day of her term in January.
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