News4 video shows federal agents and D.C. police detain a man along the National Mall as he cried and screamed for help on Wednesday afternoon.
The apparent immigration enforcement action occurred near the Washington Monument and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. It comes as President Donald Trump promises to crack down on crime and illegal immigration in D.C.
Officers and agents appeared to make a traffic stop of a man in a blue SUV with an Uber decal. He got out of the car and spoke with law enforcement. After about 12 seconds out the car, he appears to try to escape. Two members of law enforcement quickly take him to the ground and are joined by four others.
“I don’t owe anything! I don’t owe anything!” he repeatedly yells in Spanish. “Please! I’m not a criminal! I work here! I want to be with my family!”
It wasn’t immediately clear why the man was stopped or detained.
At one point, six men could be seen kneeling on the ground over the man as he continued to scream. Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Park Police and Metropolitan Police Department insignias can be seen.
Families walk by, a tour bus passes and people film on their phones as members of law enforcement pin the man to the pavement for about 2 minutes.
Dozens of National Guard troops can be seen standing on the side and watching.
The man screams “My family! My family! My family!” over and over again. He said he and his children live in the U.S. legally and that he’s Mexican.
About 3 minutes after the man stepped out of the SUV, masked agents put him into an unmarked vehicle.
Law enforcement did not answer questions about any charges against the man. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and D.C. police did not immediately respond to inquiries. Uber also did not respond to an inquiry.
The apparent detention comes days after Chief of Police Pamela Smith issued an executive order allowing officers making traffic stops to notify ICE about immigrants living in the country without legal status.
The effects of Trump’s Aug. 11 deployment of the National Guard and federalization of D.C. police have rippled through the District for the past week-and-a-half.
A resident who ordered Uber Eats stepped outside to see his delivery driver being detained in the Shaw neighborhood on Saturday.
National Guard troops are patrolling Metro stations and bus stops, News4 reported.
Eight out of 10 D.C. residents are against Trump’s order to federalize law enforcement in D.C., a Washington Post-Schar School poll says. News4’s Megan McGrath reports.
And, after a teenager and two men were shot and wounded on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue within hours of each other on Monday afternoon, area leaders asked why they saw Guard troops patrolling national monuments but not their neighborhood.
Stay with NBC Washington for more details on this developing story.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
