Trump task force hits 10,000-arrest milestone in DC crime crackdown

Exclusive: president Donald TrumpFox News Digital has learned that the Make D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force has made more than 10,000 arrests since its launch in August 2025, and has recovered more than 1,000 illegal firearms from the streets of the nation’s capital.

“President Trump’s federal surge in Washington, D.C., saved lives and helped restore our nation’s beautiful capital for all Americans to enjoy,” the attorney general said. Pamela Bundy He said in a commentary on Fox News Digital. “Thanks to the courageous work of the Jade Ceralta Guardsmen, other components of our Department of Justice, and our great federal partners, we have proven that tolerating crime is a political choice — we choose public safety.”

As of Thursday morning, the task force has made 10,018 arrests and confiscated 1,036 illegal firearms, Fox News Digital has learned.

Officials from the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as the National Guard and employees from federal agencies such as the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Capitol Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, have been out on the streets of D.C. conducting sweeps and rooting out crime since August 2025 as part of Trump’s crackdown on rampant crime.

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Trump’s Justice Department scored a victory for its task force in D.C., managing 10,000 arrests since August 2025. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

Trump signed the Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Executive Order in March 2025, which created a task force. U.S. Marshals Service Director Gadyaces S. Serralta leads Law enforcement The 3,100-member task force partnered from 28 agencies to implement a crime crackdown in the city.

Trump has taken a hard line against a series of high-profile attacks and killings that erupted in the city earlier in 2025, which followed an area that had been struggling with high crime trends since the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, including a disturbing wave of young people committing violent crimes such as armed carjackings.

Now, crime rates have dropped as the administration supports Trump’s law and order campaign.

Overall, homicides in the area are down 68% compared to the same period in 2025, robberies are down 47%, sexual assaults are down 64%, and violent crimes across the board are down 31%, according to data provided to Fox News Digital.

In particular, the task force was able to recover or locate 19 children missing amid the crackdown.

“The era of unbridled violence is over,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

“President Trump’s decisive, no-nonsense strategy to restore law and order, and the federal increase in law enforcement resources, coupled with aggressive prosecution of violent crime perpetrators, are achieving real, measurable results,” Pirro said. “I came here to fight street crime in the nation’s capital, and since then homicides have dropped to historic levels, and violent crimes have declined dramatically. Those who prey on our communities are being arrested, prosecuted and convicted.”

“The era of unbridled violence is over,” US Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement to Fox News Digital. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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The task force’s arrests include 28 people on murder charges, 1,693 on drug charges, 874 on weapons offences, 34 on sex offences, and it also arrested 52 known gang members.

Among the most significant arrests is that of three teens who allegedly shot and killed 21-year-old congressional intern Eric Tarpinyan-Jakheim in June 2025. Tarpinian-Jakheim was shot while walking near the D.C. Convention Center when he was struck by a bullet not intended for him, according to investigators.

His shocking death served as a catalyst for Trump’s anti-crime crackdown.

Another pair of teens, Lawrence Cotton Powell, 19, and Anthony Taylor, 18, were arrested in October 2025 on charges of attempted carjacking and the August 2025 robbery and battery of a former DOGE employee.

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Task Force Commander Siralta said in a commentary to Fox News Digital that the 10,000th arrest represents a “tremendous accomplishment.”

“By removing 1,000 illegal firearms from D.C. streets and making 10,000 arrests, we have achieved unprecedented results, not only for our task force, but for all residents, commuters, students and visitors in Washington, D.C.,” Ciralta said. “But rest assured, our work is not finished yet. Washington, DC“It is the beating heart of our great nation, and we will not stop until we fulfill President Trump’s promise to make its communities safe again.”

Members of the Drug Enforcement Administration patrol M Street in Georgetown on August 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Other arrests include the arrest of Alvin Young, 47, who was charged with first-degree murder while armed after a fatal shooting in March 2022. A man named Christopher Watts was also arrested in December 2025, and had an arrest warrant out of Florida on charges of cruelty to a child, promoting sexual performance and luring a child via computer, Fox News Digital has learned.

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Another man, Richard Brown, was arrested earlier in February for a long list of alleged crimes, including possession of a machine gun, carrying a handgun without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm and ammunition, possession of a large-capacity feeding device, unauthorized use of a vehicle, two counts of receiving stolen property, unlawful entry of a vehicle, fleeing a law enforcement officer in a vehicle and reckless driving, Fox News Digital has learned. Brown fled from task force members during a routine traffic stop, drove into Maryland while being pursued and jumped out of his car before officials eventually arrested him, according to task force details.

Members of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and police patrol near the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., United States, August 14, 2025. (Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez)

Rob Secada, deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told Fox News Digital that removing 1,000 weapons from violent crime offenders “is not symbolic, it is a critical measure to restore law and order in our nation’s capital.”

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He added: “President Trump has made it clear that Washington, D.C., will not submit to it criminals, ATF is fully committed to relentlessly pursuing those who traffic, possess and use illegal firearms,” Sicada said. “10,000 arrests are just the beginning.” “We will continue to dismantle networks of violence and ensure the safety of everyone who lives, works and visits here.”