(Aug. 19, 2025) The Metro DC Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) strongly opposes the federalization of District police, activation of National Guard members, and “surge” of federal agents and immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) officers as a strategy to combat crime and bolster the aesthetic appeal of our nation’s capital. We also voice continuing solidarity with all DC social workers during this challenging time. 

Although crime does exist in DC, as in any city, this “emergency” was not necessary since all data show that violent crime has sunk to a 30-year low, including a 26% drop in the past year alone. President Trump’s extreme approach to law enforcement--and especially the administration’s cruel disregard for the realities of the city’s unhoused population and undocumented migrants--will not end crime, homelessness, or asylum seeking, nor even ensure the sustained “beautification” of DC. Our capital is already beautiful, as are our fellow 700,000 residents.  

NASW and the Metro DC Chapter refuse to stand by and accept this latest creep toward a national police state. We are actively distributing NASW’s evidence-based statement on homelessness, communicating with allied local social justice coalitions, and reaching out to DC City Councilmembers to learn what more we can do to help them fight the overreaching tactics of the Trump administration. In addition, you will find our members and staff participating in peaceful protests that exercise their First Amendment rights, countering disinformation on social platforms, and educating others about the effectiveness of nonviolent movements in creating positive social change.  

A Call to Action

The NASW Code of Ethics requires that social workers advocate. NASW has long supported DC statehood and independent governance of all who reside here. We at the Metro DC Chapter reiterate that goal since every U.S. citizen should have the right to full representation on Capitol Hill, to have their vote carry the same weight as one cast in any state, and to have local policy decisions remain exactly that—local—rather than potentially overturned or frozen at the whim of a partisan Congress.

More immediately, though, NASW Metro DC is appalled and angered at the treatment and disinformation regarding the city’s unhoused population by the Trump administration during this supposedly temporary takeover of the capital. The president’s policy of forced-help-or-jail will never resolve the social challenge of homelessness, either short- or long-term. Scooping up these vulnerable individuals to dump them at undisclosed locations “FAR from our capital,” as Trump promised, only rips them away from local services, support, and even safe spaces. 

In addition to causing trauma, confusion, and humiliation, such actions brand these fellow humans as “undesirables” and present a high risk of expanding this administration’s pattern of “disappearing” people it deems “illegal,” “criminal,” or unworthy of the basic rights of all Americans. Homelessness is not a crime; it’s a tragedy. People who are unhoused each have unique circumstances that do not automatically equate them as mentally ill or law breakers, as federal law enforcers have claimed. 

Instead of fining impoverished people and jailing them if they refuse to accept forced directives on where and how they must reside, the Trump administration should restore funding that was cut in his “Big, Beautiful Bill” for evidence-based programs and staff such as social workers who help this population. He should re-invest in Medicaid and Medicare, partner with DC officials already working toward long-term solutions to homelessness, and support proven policies that boost availability of affordable housing and behavioral health services. 

The President also should direct the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reverse the 44% cut in DC’s security funding that the agency announced only a week prior to the mass federalization. This $20-million reduction was the largest for any city in the nation and is counter to the Trump administration’s stated goal of reducing crime in the capital.   

In addition, NASW Metro DC calls for the Trump administration to stop the harassment and mass deportation of migrants without due process or legal access to nations known for human rights abuses or to U.S. detention centers that are accused of overcrowding, physical beatings, psychological torture, and deprivation of water, food, and medical care. As noted in NASW’s Social Justice Brief, Near-Certain Cataclysmic Consequences of a Mass Deportation Program, the “psychological toll on individuals facing deportation and their families cannot be understated, as it fosters an environment of fear and instability. Addressing these multifaceted issues requires a nuanced approach that balances the enforcement of immigration laws with compassion and respect for human dignity.” 

This is especially true for children. Approximately 7% of children in D.C.—more than 7,500--are U.S. citizens who live with at least one undocumented family member, but since the Trump administration reversed the 2021 policy that halted family detentions in favor of less-restrictive control methods, a growing number of such minors are now at high physical and mental risk in privately owned U.S. detention centers away from their caregivers and difficult to track down. Even legislators permitted by law to inspect these facilities have been refused entrance by these for-profit owners without extensive advance notice, so real-time monitoring of the children’s living conditions and supervision has been difficult to impossible. 

The Trump administration also has essentially closed the internal DHS offices responsible for real-time monitoring of detention conditions, despite documentation by the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties of “abuses of due process, excessive or inappropriate use of force, and sexual abuse or assault in ICE detention.”

“Mass deportation threatens to break up nearly 5 million families,” according to Senior Policy Advisor Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA, and author of the NASW brief. “…. Deportations fracture families and communities, leaving them forever changed, especially children who lose a parent or caregiver,” He notes that over 400,000 parents of U.S. citizen children have been deported since 2011. 

NASW Metro DC strongly opposes the Trump administration’s return to widespread family detention and the resulting higher numbers of detained immigrant children taken into federal custody. We echo concerns that, as one study concluded, “there is no humane way to detain children and no version of family detention that is acceptable.”  

No one who has seen the extensive videotapes of unnecessarily violent takedowns and traumatizing arrests of undocumented migrants in DC during the current federal takeover would think these often-masked, armed enforcers demonstrate “compassion” or even basic human respect, despite media reports that most detainees have no past criminal record and/or are in the midst of legal immigration processing.  
We invite policy makers and the public to join social workers in advocating for due process for detained undocumented migrants, voluntary assistance and support for the homeless, and an immediate end to the law enforcement surge and intimidation tactics that threaten DC Home Rule and future statehood. Together, we can make progress both in long-term resolution of social challenges such as homelessness and crime, while also strengthening—not weakening—our nation’s democratic foundation.