Donald Trump’s decision to federalize Washington, D.C., turned a long-simmering anxiety into open confrontation. On paper, the results look impressive: robberies and car break-ins down by more than 40 percent, overall violent crime dropping double digits in a single week. For some residents, that means finally walking home at night without scanning every shadow, after years of headlines and personal horror stories that never matched the “crime is down” talking points.

But the cost of those gains is already tearing the city apart. Federal agents are now embedded with local police, rolling through neighborhoods in unmarked cars, turning routine stops into immigration dragnets.

ICE arrests have spiked to more than ten times their usual rate, transforming a crime crackdown into a sweeping test of power and identity. In living rooms, newsrooms, and city blocks, Washington is being forced to decide what “safety” really means—and who has to pay for it.