WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump launched a law enforcement operation in Washington, D.C., four months ago, he billed it as a mission to fight rampant crime.

But activists and local leaders say that description belies what has emerged as a simultaneous crackdown on immigrants, who have grown increasingly concerned for their status and safety in the city.

One-third of all arrests made during the operation were immigration-related, according to official figures reviewed by The Associated Press. Activists and immigrants say arrests are frequent and frightening. A lawsuit alleges they are often unlawful. And with no end in sight to the surge in law enforcement in the city, there is no indication the immigration arrests will end.

The threat to immigrants in the city has now become routine, the activists and local leaders say.

Immigration enforcement sweeps are “not making the nightly news anymore because it’s business as usual,” said Washington council member Brianne K. Nadeau.

DC Operation is a Crime Fighting Mission, Trump Says

Trump launched the federal intervention in D.C. in mid-August with an emergency order that took over the city’s police force and sent federal agents in along with hundreds of National Guard troops.

Trump’s Republican administration claims the D.C. mission is intended to fight crime and has touted it as a resounding success, despite reports that crime was already on the decline before the operation began.

Official figures indicate that about 33% of the more than 7,500 arrests made since the operation commenced were immigration-related. In September, an Associated Press analysis found that 40% of the 2,400 arrests were immigration-related.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement figures released by the University of California Berkeley Deportation Data Project, out of the roughly 1,130 immigration arrests made in the heavily Democratic city from the start of the operation to Oct. 15, 947 had no criminal record or pending criminal charges.

“The focus of President Trump’s highly successful D.C. operation has been to address crime committed by anyone, regardless of immigration status,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson, who added that many arrested had outstanding warrants or prior convictions. The statistics showed arrests were wide-ranging, including homicide and drug charges.

‘My Neighbors Are Being Harassed, Assaulted and Kidnapped’

Although the emergency order affecting police lapsed in September, arrest sweeps, checkpoints, masked law enforcement, and unmarked vehicles are still visible.

During a more than 10-hour municipal hearing earlier this month, residents voiced their concerns about ongoing detentions by masked and unidentifiable agents. Common targets included school drop-off zones and apartments with large Hispanic populations. Witnesses reported that the local Metropolitan Police Department continues to work closely with ICE in its immigration efforts, despite a pledge from Mayor Muriel Bowser that they would not.

Nadia Salazar Sandi, a Bolivian immigrant, shared how multiple family members had been detained recently, noting the empty seats at her Thanksgiving dinner. “This is terrifying,” she expressed. “I’m a citizen now, and I walk with my passport.”

Witnesses indicated that many detentions started from routine traffic stops. One instance began over an expired tag and escalated to a large federal response.

“Every single day, my neighbors are being harassed, assaulted, and kidnapped,” city resident Leah Tribbett said. “I could talk for probably the entirety of this hearing and still not recount every single instance of brutality that I’ve seen.”

An earlier forum led by Nadeau highlighted a growing inclination among some immigrants to become less visible in their communities. One witness, a healthcare professional, recounted a family's hesitance to seek therapy for their autistic children out of fear of government actions.

Tactics Used During Arrests Have Been Challenged in Court

A federal judge earlier this month blocked the Trump administration from executing widespread immigration arrests in the nation’s capital without warrants or probable cause for violations.

The American Civil Liberties Union argued that federal officers were patrolling neighborhoods with significant Hispanic populations, stopping and arresting individuals indiscriminately.

José Escobar Molina, who has lived in the city for 25 years, recounted an incident where federal agents detained him without seeking any information about his residency or immigration status.

Attorneys representing the administration contend that agents had probable cause for the detentions.

Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, maintained that all arrests in Washington are lawful and that detainees receive due process.

Madeleine Gates from the Washington Lawyers’ Committee stated they have gathered additional testimonies showing numerous improper arrests. “What we’ve actually seen in practice are officers arresting people without seeming to know who they are,” said Gates.

Trump has not indicated when the federal law enforcement presence may diminish. Following the recent shooting of two National Guard members allegedly by an Afghan national, the administration plans to further bolster the operation.

Local leaders are calling for hearings and voicing alarms about the arrests but admit their limited power in a federal district. “The frustrating truth,” said council member Brooke Pinto, “is that we do not have the same levers of power and control, nor the same rights, as a district that every one of the 50 other states have to protect our residents.”