Delivery Drivers ‘Targeted’ During Trump’s Militarized Takeover Of D.C. Police

Some of the highest-profile arrests during the D.C. “crime emergency” are of immigrants — especially delivery workers for companies like DoorDash.

WASHINGTON — On a typical day, food delivery drivers would be lined up along this busy stretch of 14th Street NW waiting for their phones to buzz with an order.

But less than two weeks into President Donald Trump’s D.C. takeover of policing in D.C., the deliveristas were hard to find.

Vendors selling sliced mango and taquitos on the sidewalk said business had plummeted in large part because the drivers — who are overwhelmingly immigrants — were staying off the streets, fearing run-ins with federal law enforcement.

Kiros Gebretsadik, who runs a cafe beside the nearby Metro stop, said walk-in traffic for coffee and pastries had dropped sharply since last week, when federal agents and National Guard members turned up in the city in force.

“We don’t have business,” Gebretsadik said. “There’s nobody walking around. I don’t know how we’re going to pay rent.”