OAN Staff Lillian Mann
7:24 AM – Saturday, May 16, 2026
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that parents of teenagers involved in the violent “teen takeovers” in Washington, D.C., could face prosecution as part of a broader effort to crack down on crime in the city, where the gatherings have frequently escalated into violence and disorder.
At a news conference at the DOJ headquarters on Friday, Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney in D.C., condemned “teen takeovers,” the viral trend where crowds of young people meet in busy areas of the city, at times terrorizing local businesses in the neighborhood. Pirro announced that parents will now be responsible if teens continue to break the curfew.
“Parental involvement has been a noted gap in any discussion (about teen takeovers),” Pirro stated during the conference. “That ends today. Law-abiding taxpayers should no longer have to pay for parental neglect.”
“Parents: Do your job. Or we will do ours,” she added.
The flash-mob-style gatherings of teenagers have continued to disrupt parts of the city, prompting D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to implement a juvenile curfew in the Navy Yard area, setting a restriction for those under 18. The curfew, in place for the past year, requires minors to be home by 8 p.m. within designated “curfew zones” where these gatherings are most common.
Pirro said her office plans to enforce local statute 22-811, which addresses contributing to the delinquency of a minor. However, Pirro’s office is prohibited from prosecuting the teens themselves for curfew violations, which are handled by the local attorney general’s office.
The federal crackdown is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to strengthen public safety in Washington, D.C. However, local officials have remained divided over how best to respond to the crowds of teenagers gathering across the city.
The U.S. attorney said that this restriction “does not preclude me from bringing charges against the parents,” adding that her office would immediately begin “aggressively prosecuting parents.”
Nevertheless, it is unclear how Pirro’s plan will play out, despite the increase in National Guard troops and other federal law enforcement resources, officials said.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said on Friday that Pirro’s plan did not have the resources to carry out arrests of parents.
“Who’s actually going to enforce it?” Bowser told reporters at an unrelated event. “Is it the MPD? I don’t know that we have those types of resources,” she added, referring to D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department.
Beyond the curfew, federal officials said they have requested roughly 1,500 additional National Guard troops for the District. President Donald Trump first deployed Guard members to Washington last August, and the increase would raise the total presence to about 5,000 troops.
Officials also said the broader federal response would include additional personnel and resources from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Marshals Service and other agencies.
“It is about time drug dealers be treated like terrorists, since they are terrorizing our nation and D.C. streets,” U.S. Marshals Director Gadyaces Serralta said at the news conference. “Law and order has been restored to our nation’s capital. D.C. will be the safest city in America for those who live, those who work and those who visit.”
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