In a video posted to social media on Aug. 11, a muscular, bearded U.S. Park Police officer and at least three officers from different law enforcement agencies approach men smoking cigarettes on a stoop in Washington, D.C.
One man, seen sitting on the stoop in the video, is African American; the man recording responds to the officer's request for identification in a thick D.C. accent: "No, I live right here... Did y'all get a call or something about right here?"
The parks service officer continues: "You heard about the federal search that Donald Trump is putting out? Trump's got all federal agencies coming together for seven days. We're going out trying to stop the violent crime... So we're out here contacting people, talking to them. Quality of life offenses — drinking, smoking in public — can't happen outside."
The officer is referring to an executive order issued by the president, declaring what it deemed a "a crime emergency in the District of Columbia," in an effort to "to protect public servants, citizens, and tourists, and ensure the safe functioning of the Federal government."
Trump's order argues that "a surge in violent crimes," including homicide, robbery, vehicle theft and illegal immigration, demand federal intervention; it does not include reference to the quality-of-life offenses the parks officer mentions in the video.
But the video soon went viral on social media, cable news and late-night comedy talk shows as an example of the kind of harassment that was inevitable after the Trump Administration's all-out blitz to enforce immigration laws failed to meet the White House's deportation goals.
Groups such as the Washington, D.C.-based American Immigration Council note that through its first six months, the Trump administration "summarily stripped Temporary Protected Status from nearly 1 million people" and aggressively revoked the legal status of students and other immigrants with authorization to live in the U.S.
As Trump prepares to mobilize another 1,700 National Guard troops to 19 more states, all of which have Trump-friendly governors but most of which have major cities with racially diverse populations led by Democratic mayors, civil liberties advocates warn that Trump might be re-opening some of the darkest chapters of history.
Mississippi, after all, practically wrote the book on it.
'We've seen this story before'
In early August, at the annual Mississippi Policy Conference in Tunica, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat and one of the most powerful congressmen on The Hill, referenced the poem, "First They Came," by Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller, a one-time supporter of Adolf Hitler and self-professed antisemite who later was imprisoned at a concentration for criticizing the Nazi regime.
The poem ends: "...Then they came for the Jews/ And I did not speak out/ Because I was not a Jew/Then they came for me/And there was no one left/To speak out for me."
Charles Taylor, president of the Mississippi State Conference NAACP, attended the event and listened to Clyburn's speech.
“If you look at Germany prior to the Holocaust, and what transpired during Hitler’s rise, play by play—what took them 10 years has happened in this country in just months. That puts us in terrifying times," Taylor told The Mississippi Independent. "When I saw federal troops being deployed to Washington, D.C., to [sarcastically] combat crime, it felt very familiar."
Taylor says the mobilization of guardsmen and federal agents to Washington D.C. to enforce local laws outside their jurisdiction and without proper training is reminiscent of the Mississippi Legislature's expansion of the Capitol Police through the creation of a court in the Capitol Complex Improvement District. In 2023, the NAACP sued to block the implementation of the law, arguing that the court and state-appointed judge would not be accountable to citizens of Jackson.
The NAACP eventually dropped its lawsuit, but Taylor points to the 2022 killing of 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis by two Capitol police officers during a traffic stop; earlier this year, the officers were charged with manslaughter in Lewis' death.
"What I worried about immediately was Black lives in D.C., the same way I worried about Black lives in Mississippi. We’re watching history repeat itself. We’ve seen this story before," Taylor said.
Observers of history note that the Trump Administration’s decision to direct federal agents toward so-called “quality-of-life” offenses—a controversial policing theory that argues aggressively enforcing minor misdemeanors deters more serious crimes—harkens back to Jim Crow-era Black codes.
Following emancipation, Mississippi and other Southern states enacted laws that restricted the rights of African Americans to work, own property and move freely. Violating what became known as Black codes could result in incarceration, which Southern states used to ensure a source of cheap labor.
In the 2010 book The New Jim Crow, civil-rights attorney Michelle Alexander describes how, "During the decade following Redemption, the convict population grew ten times faster than the general population: Prisoners became younger and blacker, and the length of their sentences soared."
Alexander wrote: "It was the nation's first prison boom and, as they are today, the prisoners were disproportionately black.... The criminal justice system was strategically employed to force African Americans back into a system of extreme repression and control, a tactic that would continue to prove successful for generations to come."
Real, tangible issues
Although the Trump administration touts its D.C. operation as a huge success, resulting in some 1,600 arrests, data show mixed results. A New York Times analysis of 1,000 arrest affidavits over a two-week period determined that total arrests were up only slightly overall, with 995 new criminal defendants booked into the city jail and taken to court between Aug. 8, the day after the surge began, and Aug. 22, compared with 870 in the previous 15-day period."
The Times analysis found that federal agents were involved in just 2 percent of all prosecuted arrests in D.C. for violent crimes during the two-week period. The surge of arrests has also put a strain on Washington D.C.'s court system and jail. Even if prosecutors eventually lower or drop charges altogether, criminal justice experts note that working class families will bear the brunt of costs associated with court fines and fees.
A June 2025 report from FWD.us, a Washington-based criminal justice and immigration advocacy nonprofit, details the cost of incarceration on families, highlighting that families spend roughly $4,200 per year on average supporting incarcerated loved ones. Authors also point out racial disparities, with African American families paying an average of $8,005 per year versus $3,251 for white families.
"These costs include everything from money put onto commissary accounts or paid to stay in touch via email or phone to a wide range of costs associated with visits such as transportation, lodging, travel expenses, and child care," the report's authors write. "The money that is being taken directly out of the pocket of families to stay in touch with and support their loved ones is also on top of the significant income that is lost when a family member is incarcerated."
Mississippi perennially ranks as one of the states with the nation's highest rates of incarceration; according to Washington-based nonprofit The Sentencing Project, Mississippi currently ranks No. 1 among states at 661 people in prison per 100,000 residents. Mississippi is also the nation's poorest state, with a long history of imposing harsh penalties on people who fail to pay court-ordered fines, fees and restitution.
Civil rights advocates also worry that Trump's threats to end cashless bail could exacerbate the financial burdens on people ensnared in his crime crackdown and reverberate in other states in his crosshairs. In the past decade, organizations including the ACLU, MacArthur Justice Center and Southern Poverty Law Center have won class action lawsuits on behalf of Mississippi defendants who were unable to pay fines and fees in misdemeanor cases.
"If you know how bail works locally, you understand how absurd it is to ban cashless bail. It’s not about stopping crime — it’s about cruelty, about targeting certain populations," said Brandon Jones, director of political campaigns for the SPLC and SPLC Action Fund.
"The administration is capitalizing on people’s ignorance of how reforms have helped. Without that knowledge, tough-on-crime rhetoric sounds appealing. It’s a tried-and-true political tactic. But what’s sad is that we’re not being offered real solutions to daily struggles like healthcare, the economy or education. Instead, we’re offered a list of scapegoats."
Jones and the NAACP's Taylor see the coming midterm elections and 2027 Mississippi governor's race as opportunities to educate voters on the real issues facing Mississippi — none of which are illegal immigration.
Jones notes that 200,000 Mississippians still lack access to healthcare, which they could obtain through Medicaid expansion. Plus, Mississippi leaders also recently made changes to the Public Employee Retirement System that mean new government hires will receive fewer benefits than predecessors while the Legislature and Gov. Tate Reeves laid the foundation during the last legislative session to eliminate state income taxes by 2040.
"These are real, tangible issues: roads, bridges, hospitals, schools. They matter more than Trump’s tweets. Local elections are a chance to hold leaders accountable and decide what kind of state and communities we want," Jones said.
Asked if the specter of Trump's expanded militarization spreading to Mississippi might motivate citizens in upcoming elections, Taylor offered: "I’m never a fan of motivating voters by fear. We should motivate with hope. I’m optimistic that Mississippi can do better—especially if we get better leaders in office. I’m excited about 2026. The Senate race will likely be highly contested, and we’ll see tough races across the country.
"So yes, I think people will be motivated. But we’re at an intersection: one path leads to a crumbling democracy, the other to a vibrant democracy and future. What we do now, and up through Election Day 2026, will decide the country’s direction."
Image: Soldiers with the Mississippi Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 155th Infantry Regiment watch from the Lincoln Memorial as demonstrators peacefully gather in front of the memorial during protests in Washington, D.C., Saturday, June 6, 2020, in the wake of the death of George Floyd. Guard members were on hand throughout the District manning traffic control points, aid stations and providing security. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Jon Soucy, via Flickr Creative Commons)
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