DC students head back to school amid Trump focus on cleaning up juvenile crime in the district [View all]

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Aug 17, 2025, 4:28 PM ET


In southeast Washington, DC, children stood in line Friday to receive new backpacks filled with school supplies, while community organizers passed out free hot dogs and hamburgers to teenagers to celebrate the last few days of summer before.

But just a few blocks away, the sight of National Guard trucks cut into the celebration — a reminder that the school year will begin under the shadow of federal troops.

“This is not going to go off well … most middle school kids walk to school by themselves. They’re going to have to walk through soldiers and police,” Dara Baldwin, a DC-based activist on the Free DC advisory council, told CNN. “They’re going to be fearful for their lives. … They’re either not going to want to go to school, or they’re going to react to these people in their space.”

President Donald Trump’s deployment of federal law enforcement to the nation’s capital to combat what he has described as “roving mobs of wild youth” has ignited fear among parents, activists and youth advocates that Black and Latino teens will face heightened policing as they return to class next week.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/17/politics/dc-school-juvenile-crime-national-guard