WATCH: Prem Spots FBI Agents Responding to DC Fare Evasion and a Huge Crowd Chases Federal Agents Out of Area

Here’s what just a few minutes in Trump-occupied Washington, DC, looks like.

WASHINGTON, DC – My colleague Liam Mann and I spent the dreary, overcast day roaming around Washington, DC, to get a better sense of what President Donald Trump’s federal “public safety surge” looked like. Much of the day was spent talking to residents and capturing the bloated law enforcement presence sprawling across the city. But in a matter of minutes, things sprang into action.

We were in Columbia Heights, a busy neighborhood in Northwest DC, speaking to two residents who expressed concern about the increased police presence in their communities, the frightening and brutal abductions of their neighbors, and the ensuing atmosphere of fear looming around them. One of the residents, a doctor, told us how her patients were essentially deciding between healthcare and abduction.

And then, all at once, chaos ensued. Just a block over, we began hearing yelling and chanting.

Liam and I ran over and saw a ruckus surrounding some masked federal agents decked out in camouflage outside the Columbia Heights metro station. We approached them, as dozens of residents yelled, telling them to leave their neighborhood. We followed them down the escalator into the station, asking what brought them to the area and what crimes they were responding to. Residents continued to yell and jeer at them, asking them how they thought history would look back on them, and saying they themselves looked like gang members.

The officers went up and down the escalators repeatedly, perhaps to out-escalate the residents, perhaps to just figure out where to go next. Eventually, they resigned to staying down inside the metro entrance. We followed them and emerged upon a puzzling scene: Officers and agents from various agencies gathered around a man. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). Federal Bureau of Investigation. Police. All standing around.

I asked one of the masked agents what was going on. He ignored us. I then approached one of the local DC police officers. He was the only officer throughout the entire day who answered our questions. I asked what was going on, and he told us there was a fare evader. We were puzzled. Almost 10 officers and agents from the FBI and HSI rushed the metro stop for an alleged fare evader, a crime so minimal it doesn’t even warrant a fine larger than $100?

I asked the officer why HSI and the FBI were responding to fare evasion. He first said they weren’t; it was only the local police who responded. It was a confusing response, given all the agents we just saw at the scene.

We then got into a lengthy back-and-forth. I asked if and how the police were coordinating with other agencies. He deflected, saying the police were just trying to keep people safe from crimes like gun violence. I repeatedly tried to re-focus the conversation on ICE and other federal agencies’ roles. He said he can’t speak to other agencies, while maintaining that they were all supporting each other.

Minutes later, we were back outside the metro station, and the public chanting was even louder. The agents we had seen earlier were across the street, being pushed back by a huge crowd of residents demanding they leave. And that's seemingly all it took. Soon, the federal agents zipped out of the area, in a smattering of unmarked vehicles.

We spoke with one woman, Morgan, who was among the crowd. She told us the increased presence had left many terrified. Breaking into tears, she discussed how the agents were taking her neighbors.

“I’ve seen them, purposely, walk up to Latino-Americans that don’t speak proper English and then say to them, ‘you don’t speak English, you’re going with me’ – [they] don’t ask no name, no citizenship, no anything,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking to see that these people come here to make their life different in America, and it’s being sabotaged,” she added.

To Morgan and others we spoke with, Trump’s takeover isn’t about making DC safer. That’s why such a large crowd was so adamant in pushing the agents out of their neighborhood.

“Let’s try to stick together as a community, unite as one,” she said. Residents aren’t against finding ways to achieve public safety, but to them, anonymous masked agents in the street abducting people isn’t the way.

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