MS-13 gang member arrested in Trump’s federal DC crime crackdown operation
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Thursday’s arrests in Washington, D.C. amid the Trump administration’s federal crime crackdown included a suspected member of the brutal Salvadoran street gang MS-13.
“Just yesterday we made 40 arrests, took 5 more illegal firearms off our streets, and had 36 ICE arrests—including a suspected MS-13 gang member,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X on Friday morning.
Thursday’s arrests bring the total to 719 since President Donald Trump announced his effort to federalize the D.C. police on Aug. 11, according to Bondi. She thanked Trump for his “unwavering support to make DC safe again!”
Pam Bondi, US attorney general, during a swearing-in ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, May 6, 2025. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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Approximately 800 National Guard troops have descended upon the city since the order, along with countless federal agents from the FBI, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE and the DEA.
On Aug. 15, Bondi said the total number of arrests was 189, meaning that over the past week, federal authorities have arrested 530 suspected criminals, an average of almost 76 per day.
An FBI agent stands by as District of Columbia Metro Transit Police Department and Metropolitan Police Department officers detain three people at L’Enfant Plaza metro station, Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
The suspects have been charged with crimes including homicide, drug trafficking, possession of illegal firearms and child sex crimes.
With mounting criminal cases in the nation’s capital, the Trump administration said Thursday that it was deploying Judge Advocate General (JAG) attorneys, who are military lawyers, to prosecute misdemeanors.
A member of the US military arrives at the the William B. Bryant Annex of the US Courthouse in Washington, DC, on Feb. 18, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
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A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C. confirmed to Fox News Digital that 20 JAGs will handle the cases.
“The assignment of 20 JAGs to my office is further proof of President Trump’s commitment to fighting and reducing crime in the district,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a statement.
Members of the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and police patrol near Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., U.S., Aug. 14, 2025. (REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez)
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The DOJ is investigating suspected crime statistics manipulation after city police Commander Michael Pulliam was suspended in mid-May for allegedly changing crime statistics in his patrol district.