SCOOP: Latino Tenants Told to Vacate After Georgetown ICE Raid
Eyewitnesses describe multi-agency sweep at Wisconsin & O St. NW; 10–12 taken; Latino units “tossed;” ammunition left in the floor, and tenants told to vacate.
WASHINGTON — A pre-dawn raid on Friday, Oct. 24 at a residential building at Wisconsin Avenue NW and O Street NW jolted Georgetown awake as a multi-agency team forced its way inside, zip-tied residents, and removed at least 10 to 12 people, according to two eyewitnesses who spoke to Migrant Insider on condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution.
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The residents said no warrant was presented. Both described a chaotic operation that began before dawn, around 3:30 a.m., with a helicopter overhead and a perimeter they believed included National Guard members.
“I heard banging and I thought it was a roommate cooking. Then I heard yelling,” one resident said. “Suddenly there were half a dozen U.S. Marshals, [U.S.] Park Police, ICE, and [D.C.] police as well, pointing guns at me. National Guard was providing a perimeter.”
The resident said officers yelled at them in Spanish though they do not speak it. “This was five in the morning. They took me outside and hand-cuffed me,” he said. “They asked me where I was from. I said North Carolina. They said why do you live here? I said, because it’s affordable. They said, ‘Well you’re living with very bad people.’ That set me off because I immediately knew it was racial profiling. I knew the only thing I could do is talk in my American accent since they weren’t going to let me show my passport or license.”
A second witness said they were up early to finish a school assignment when the commotion began and initially thought it was a robbery. “I heard a helicopter overhead… so I called 911,” the witness said, adding that an officer took the phone and shut it off. “When I opened the door, they took us downstairs with our neighbors. They did not ask for any of our papers, no ID or passport or anything, when they took us downstairs.”
Residents said law enforcement told them they would receive a form to reimburse damaged doors but none was left behind. “They didn’t leave anything except ammunition,” one said, sharing a photo of an ejected bullet left on the floor of the unit they rent.
The bullet is most likely .223 or .556 caliber, commonly used in M4 and AR-15 assault rifles, according to firearms experts who reviewed. According to witnesses, federal agents ejected the rounds without firing the weapon.
“Insanely sloppy,” said an avid firearms collector in Missouri, “It’s almost unthinkable how dumb an agent would need to be to leave behind an unspent round somehow.”
Inside the building, the witnesses described selective, aggressive searches. “They turned over everything … every single bed in the Latino apartments. Nothing was touched in the non-Latino apartments besides the doors being destroyed,” one said. Most of the downstairs neighbors were Venezuelan asylum seekers, the residents added. A Puerto Rican resident was allegedly handcuffed “for over an hour” after showing paperwork.
Officers on scene claimed the building had been under surveillance for three months, according to the witnesses, yet “they didn’t know who lived there.” During the operation, two people in the alley were described by officers as possibly suffering epileptic fits, the witnesses said.
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As some personnel pressed to wrap up before Georgetown’s morning traffic, one agent said, “I need to finish these bitches first,” according to a witness.
By the end, “both men and women” were taken away, the witnesses said. They also said two of the men seized in the raid were deported to Venezuela on Friday, Oct. 31.
After the raid, the building’s Latino tenants were told by the landlord to vacate by the end of the month without what residents described as the legally required 30-day notice. The property is managed by TranGroup LLC.
If you were present during the Oct. 24 operation near Wisconsin & O, or were affected by related arrests or removals, please contact Migrant Insider. Names are withheld upon request.
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This has to stop. I really can't think how these home invasions could be legal.
I'm sorry but if you break in my place of residents, and don't identify who you are, a semiautomatic 12 guage with a banana clip will be unloaded in your direction.