Under Trump, the federal wrecking crew harassing neighborhoods in D.C. is now a chaotic roadshow happening all over the U.S. But we can fight back
Restaurants are losing customers. Workers are being kidnapped in broad daylight while just doing their jobs. Houses of worship are seeing attendance numbers plummet. Students are scared to go to school. The devastating human and economic costs of Donald Trump’s unprovoked invasion of the nation’s capital are real and happening right before our eyes.
“The Trump administration has been snatching delivery drivers off the street mid-order,” The New Republic reported. The outlet quoted one local who was waiting for his order and noticed that the driver hadn’t moved in a couple minutes. That was because he’d been stopped. The resident said officers reportedly claimed that his moped plates didn’t show up in their system “before conceding that there wasn’t a single issue with the vehicle,” the report continued. “The driver’s first language was Arabic, and when they asked how he arrived in the United States, he struggled, and the ICE officers arrested him.”
@td13__ The man was doing nothing wrong and was unlawfully pulled over due to the officer making a mistake. DC is full of things like this right now and it’s so sucking to see #DC #ICE #Trump #arrested
The actions of the same administration that formed a task force to supposedly counter “anti-Christian bias” in the federal government have also resulted in an attendance drop at D.C.-area houses of worship. Shrine of the Sacred Heart has seen a number of its congregants swept up by ICE, including an usher who was on his way to evening Mass, Religion News Service reported. Rev. Yoimel González Hernández, rector at St. Stephen and the Incarnation, said he was forced to cancel services because it was simply too unsafe outside for his congregants.
“I never thought I had one day to cancel Sunday worship because it is not safe for our Latino siblings to come to church. But here we are … ,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “The federal occupation of DC, with the help of Congress and other authorities, is not keeping our streets and communities safe. They are disappearing people without due process and infringing their rights.”
Fears of being harassed and possibly detained have led other community members to skip out on social activities, like going out to eat and boosting the local economy. Unsurprisingly, restaurants are now hurting. “‘The city is dead: D.C. restaurant reservations drop amid federal crackdown,” read one headline from The Washington Post, which noted that “restaurant reservations have dropped in the city by as much as 31 percent year over year for a single day, according to restaurant booking data.”
@americasvoice Here’s what’s really happening to restaurants during Trumps DC federal takeover. #dcrestaurants #dcrestaurantweek #washingtondc @OpenTable @We are a newspaper. #wusa9
But the chaos and cruelty on full display in Washington D.C. is also a microcosm of what’s happening in communities all across the U.S. and should concern everyone worried about everything from food prices to the freedoms we hold dear. Recent data revealed that the agriculture, construction, and hospitality industries are already being harmed by mass deportations and working families are feeling the costs.
In Nebraska – certainly nowhere near the major urban areas occupied by federal forces deployed by the Trump administration – numerous restaurants in the state’s biggest cities said they’ve had to temporarily shut down due to the targeting of their workers. Businessman Mitch Tempus, owner of Omaha’s Fernando’s Café and Cantina, said both of his locations “are no longer able to operate at full staff,” Nebraska Public Media reported.
“Every restauranteur is probably concerned about this whole immigration debacle we’re in at this time,” Tempus said. “We’re all trying to run our business and take care of our families and our employees.” In Pennsylvania, as many as 16 workers were detained after agents ransacked a popular Mexican restaurant chain and “left a trail of destruction for the business,” NBC News reported.
“In a social media post that same afternoon, which included a video taken by a worker, the business accused agents of storming into its restaurants and leaving ‘a trail of fear, confusion, and destruction’ that included a burned kitchen, torn ceiling tiles, broken doors, a safe cut open by an agent and trashed food. The incident raises questions over the tactics used by authorities at this particular raid.”
In Southern California, U.S. citizen and disabled U.S. military veteran George Retes is now suing the federal government after he was arrested and detained by immigration officials while on his way to his security guard job at a local farm. Retes said he tried to tell agents that he was an American citizen. “They got hostile. They didn’t care what I had to say,” he said.
And in what have been described as “extraordinary decrees,” several bishops have excused their congregants from the obligation to attend Mass due to immigration raids. In May, the Diocese of Nashville appears to be the first to have excused members from Mass, saying that while churches remained open, “no Catholic is obligated to attend Mass on Sunday if doing so puts their safety at risk.”
Then in a July 8 letter, San Bernardino Bishop Alberto Rojas excused parishioners who are afraid to attend mass “due to genuine fear of immigration enforcement actions,” writing that he is “guided by the Church’s mission to care for the spiritual welfare of all entrusted to my care, particularly those who face fear or hardship.” The decision was backed by Sacramento Bishop Jamie Soto, who said that his community stood “with our brothers and sisters in Southern California who are being unfairly harassed by the intimidating, disruptive raids employed by federal agents.”
But an example we can take from the administration’s recent occupation of D.C. is that the people are not holding back. “DC is showing up and showing out to resist Trump,” Melissa Ryan writes at her Clt Alt Right Delete newsletter.
“Residents are documenting everything they see and experience and posting it online immediately,” Ryan writes. “Every move the Trump Regime makes: arrests, harassment, violence, patrolling completely empty neighborhoods, it’s all caught on camera and amplified online. DC residents are also documenting their own resistance, from chasing goons away from schools and churches to heckling JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and Pete Hegseth as they visit an occupied Union Station.” In D.C., community members nonviolently confronted agents who were staked out in a church parking out. “We don’t want you kidnapping our neighbors!” one said.
Agents amass in DC, unclear why or which agency. Some masked.Residents: “You’re in a church parking lot—get out!”“We don’t want you kidnapping our neighbors!”Agents start recording too.Soon decide to leave, some mockingly wave their phones. They zoom down the 25mph road, skimming by our feet.
— Prem Thakker ツ (@premthakker.bsky.social) 2025-08-17T19:52:30.378Z
Ryan names other priorities, like joy and community. Facism, she writes, “thrives on fear and isolation.”
“A sustained resistance movement requires all of these components. Cultivating them is a continual practice. You can’t win against the Trump Regime without constantly reminding yourself and those around you what you love and why it’s worth fighting for. On this front, DC is showing us the way.”
