Photo: Trump Sends His Drug Cops To See the Sights in D.C.
Rather than targeting cartels, DEA agents are patrolling tourist areas, setting up checkpoints, and even cleaning up litter.
(Photo: Alex Kent/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents flank the Lincoln Memorial in August 2025, after President Donald Trump declared a "crime emergency" and invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act for the first time in history. DEA agents, along with the National Guard, were not targeting cartels—they were soon seen patrolling tourist areas, manning checkpoints, and cleaning up litter. The deployment transforms the nation's capital into a testing ground for a new brand of political policing.