Washington, D.C
ICE detained over 1,000 people in DC. Here’s one man’s story
Alexander Esquivel was eating breakfast in his car outside his Washington, D.C. apartment last August when, unbeknownst to him, an ICE agent approached his vehicle. Esquivel was about to leave for his cleaning job and stepped out of the car to dust crumbs off his shirt when the agent grabbed his wrist.
“He said, ‘which border did you cross?’ He asked me that repeatedly, over and over again,” Esquivel said. “I felt so many emotions: What would happen if they deported me? I’ll lose my family, my friends, everything I’ve built, I’ll lose it all in the blink of an eye, all for nothing.”
When he couldn’t provide proof of citizenship, the officer arrested Esquivel, after which he was transported to Chantilly Detention Center in Northern Virginia.
“They handcuffed us all like animals, at our waists, feet, and arms,” Esquivel said.
Esquivel migrated from El Salvador to the US almost 20 years ago, and he’s one of more than 1,100 people who were detained in D.C. in the two months following President Trump’s surge of federal law enforcement last August, according to Washington Post reporting. Like over 80 percent of those arrested, he did not have a criminal record. While Esquivel is comparatively lucky — he won his court hearing last month, allowing him to remain in the U.S. — he and his family are still among the thousands of D.C. families living in the shadow of the ongoing crackdown.
“I’m always scared, you know, because even if the police stop us, then they could call ICE agents,” said his daughter Kaylie Esquivel, a 9th grader who is U.S. citizen. Kaylie said she cried every night of father’s detention. “I have this bond with my dad that I didn’t really have with anyone else,” she said.
For his part, Esquivel still has nightmares about his incarceration. “I wake up with that trauma, thinking I’m still detained,” he said.
After Chantilly, Esquivel was transferred to Southwest Virginia Regional Jail, six hours away from D.C.. He was then moved to Farmville Detention Center near Richmond, Virginia, where he was given a yellow uniform indicating his lack of a criminal record. He said he met many people who were in the country legally or were in the process of obtaining legal immigration status.
“They took them without a justification and without reason, solely because of the color of their skin and their Hispanic features,” Esquivel said.
Many of the arrests in Washington D.C. occurred without warrants, according to The Washington Post. Last September, a Supreme Court ruling greenlit the use of racial profiling in immigration arrests nationwide.
Esquivel still thinks about the conditions of the jail. “We heard that there were worms in the food,” he said. (An October 2025 report by the National Immigration Project documented reports of worms in the food at Farmville, and detainees facing retaliation for refusing to eat).
“Everyone there was very sick — they got sick with everything, the flu, among other things,” said Esquivel, adding that people struggled to get access to medical care in detention. “The treatment was truly inhumane,” Esquivel said.
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to request for comment.
While Alex was gone, his wife Dolores says she experienced intense fear, anxiety, and depression. “This wasn’t the life I wanted. Living in fear isn’t living,” she said.
The family received lots of support from their community during his detention, raising over $25,000 to help with his legal fees. Dolores said that while neighbors left food outside for them everyday, it was of limited comfort.
“I don’t want money, I don’t want anything, I want my husband,” she said, of how she felt during those months.
In November, after two months in detention, Esquivel was released on bail. The immigration judge cited his strong family ties and lack of a criminal record.
“It was so fulfilling, such a joy,” said Dolores of when he finally returned home. “There is nothing better than being with your husband, my husband with his daughters, with his parents. That’s the true value of life, family.”
Even while they continue to celebrate, the family worries that last month’s court win that allows him to stay could be challenged by the Department of Homeland Security. He and his family avoid leaving the house as much as possible for fear of running into immigration enforcement.
Still, Esquivel hasn’t lost hope.
“I’d tell them not to lose faith, to fight as hard as they can,” he said of what he’d tell other people facing detention. “To fight until they give their last ounce of effort, to not give up, because without a fight there is no victor.”
WASHINGTON (7News) — Some D.C. residents told 7News they are fed up with the no-parking signs that have been added in front of their homes.
For the first time in 70 years, the view outside Anita Marsh’s home has changed.
“It’s very emotional,” said Marsh. “To be in a place where there’s no access to my door, no one can legally park for me to enter and exit my home. It’s frustrating, but more importantly, it’s upsetting. It’s very upsetting. I find it heartless.”
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Video from Marsh showed what she woke up to on Monday morning. She said the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) installed no parking signs in front of her home.
“How do I walk? How do I get into my house? I’m not very ambulatory,” said Marsh. “I have mobility challenges. So what happens?”
Neighbors about a mile away, over on Kimi Gray Court, reached out with the same frustrations. That’s where 7News met Aaron Harris.
“DDOT put these signs up, these signs, and they are ticketing people who are trying to park in front of their home because they have multiple cars,” said Harris.
Both neighborhoods feel that access to their home will now cost them.
“I’m very nervous because also financial impact is on a retiree,” said Marsh.
7News also got a call from businesses on MLK Jr. Avenue in Anacostia who said DDOT hit them with changes, too. 7News met Ronald Moton in front of his Gogo museum.
“They bring a bus lane without talking to us and take away 29 parking spaces,” said Moton.
Moton said business owners and customers have been hit with $200 tickets.
“This is a community trying to build itself up and survive,” said Moton. “You cannot come and dump stuff like this on us without talking to us.”
“We can’t afford to pay $90 a week or $180 or $270 per week because we’re in violation in front of a property that wasn’t zoned this way,” said Harris. “At least we didn’t know it was owned that way until the signs went up and they started getting ticketed.”
“I’m very scared. I’m very scared. And very upset,” said Marsh. “I’m not going to be able to stay in my house. Then I’m going to be forced to go elsewhere. Because I’m not going to be able to enter and exit my house.”
7News reached out to DDOT and Councilman Charles Allen, who chairs D.C.’s Transportation and Environment Committee, and asked about the no-parking signs community members feel came out of nowhere. 7News has not heard back from either yet.
New office in Tysons, Virginia, brings the firm’s design-build expertise and national resources closer to clients across the capital region
TYSONS, Va., July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ARCO Design/Build, one of the nation’s leading design-build construction firms, today announced the opening of a new office in Tysons, Virginia, placing the firm in the heart of the Washington, D.C. market and directly on the Capital Beltway. The office expands on the presence ARCO has built in the region over many years and brings the firm’s people, design-build expertise, and national resources closer to existing and prospective clients across the District and Northern Virginia.
A significant share of ARCO’s work in the region has originated in the D.C. area. The Tysons office is the natural next step in the firm’s growth, and a commitment built on established relationships with a track record of completed work. With many of those clients headquartered in the capital region and building across multiple geographies, the Tysons office allows ARCO to be closer to decision-makers, active pursuits, and the opportunities shaping the market today.
The office is further strengthened by local leadership, including Drew Enstice, Vice President, whose experience in the region supports ARCO’s continued growth across the Washington market.
“The Washington region has been central to our growth, and the Tysons office lets us meet it with our full strength,” said Aaron Weir, President, ARCO Design/Build. “We’re building on the relationships and successful work we’ve already established here, while bringing the resources of a national builder to a market with growing opportunity across advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, life sciences, aerospace, defense, and other complex sectors that demand precision.”
ARCO’s integrated design-build approach brings design, engineering, procurement, and construction together under a single accountable team from the outset. The firm delivers cost certainty, compressed schedules, and a single point of responsibility that matter most on complex, regulated, and mission-driven facilities.
About ARCO Design/Build
ARCO Design/Build is a national design-build construction firm delivering the strength, resources, and expertise of an award-winning national builder combined with the responsive, personalized service of a local partner. With more than 50 offices and over 1,800 associates across the country, ARCO provides comprehensive design, engineering, and construction services across various industries such as industrial, e-commerce, logistics, data centers, commercial, life sciences, defense and aerospace manufacturing, healthcare, food and beverage, retail, and light manufacturing facilities. ARCO is a 100% employee-owned company through its ESOP. To learn more, visit arcodb.com.
SOURCE ARCO Design/Build
Food and Friends expects to double its impact with a $30 million addition and renovation.
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Nonprofit donating two million meals each year is now set to expand
Food and Friends prepares over two million meals each year for people in the D.C. region who are battling serious illnesses. The organization expects to double its impact with a $30 million addition and renovation.
The first shovels went into the ground Monday at Food and Friends’ headquarters in Northeast D.C.
The 17,000-square-foot expansion will dramatically impact how many people the organization can serve on a daily basis, the nonprofit said.
“The demand has been so high, and so we need more room. And we’re really, really excited to be kicking that off,” Food and Friends CEO Carrie Stoltzfus said. “We’re going to be able to more than double what we do.”
Food and Friends currently packages roughly 7,100 meals per day and delivers throughout the D.C. region in an area approximately the size of Connecticut.
Staff described the current building as bursting at the seams, with many rooms doubling as food storage.
“Most of the expansion space will be for food production and food storage because that’s really what drives everything else that we do and why we’re all here,” Stoltzfus said.
The new building, set to be completed in May, will include a state-of-the-art kitchen. The current kitchen will be transformed into a chilled food packing room.
The expansion also adds private nutrition counseling rooms for clients who are battling diseases such as cancer, AIDS, renal failure and other illnesses.
All clients of Food and Friends are referred to the program by healthcare providers. Dietitians and chefs have developed 11 meal types tailored to specific health needs.
Rebecca Kahn, director of nutrition services at Food and Friends, said its food is medicine, leading to better health outcomes.
“Hospital visits are going down as compared to before getting our services. Clients are saving money on healthcare costs,” she told WTOP.
Loris Adams is a volunteer and a former client who received meals from Food and Friends while she battled ovarian cancer. She’s thrilled with the expansion.
“People like me, people like your neighbors have an opportunity to be fed and nourished — body, soul and spirit — while they’re going through really hard and difficult times,” she said after the groundbreaking.
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