US President Donald Trump on Sunday pledged to evict homeless people from the nation’s capital and jail criminals, despite Washington’s mayor arguing there is no spike in crime.
While details of the plan were unclear, the administration is preparing to deploy hundreds of US National Guard troops to Washington, a US official said, a controversial tactic Trump used recently in Los Angeles to tackle immigration protests over the objections of local officials.
Trump has not made a final decision, the official said, adding that the number of troops and their role are still being determined.
Photo: AFP
Unlike in California and every other state, where the governor typically decides when to activate National Guard troops, the US president directly controls the National Guard in Washington.
Past instances of the National Guard’s deployment in the city include in response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
“The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. “We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong.”
The White House declined to explain what legal authority Trump would use to evict people from Washington. The Republican president controls only federal land and buildings in the city.
Trump was to hold a news conference yesterday to “stop violent crime in Washington, D.C.” It was not clear whether he would announce more details of his eviction plan then.
There are 3,782 single persons experiencing homelessness on any given night in the city of about 700,000, said the Community Partnership, an organization working to reduce homelessness in Washington.
Most such individuals are in emergency shelters or transitional housing, rather than on the street, it said.
A White House official on Friday said more federal law enforcement officers were being deployed in the city following a violent attack on a young administration staffer that angered the US president.
Alleged crimes investigated by federal agents on Friday night included “multiple persons carrying a pistol without license,” motorists driving on suspended licenses and dirt bike riding, a White House official said on Sunday.
The official said 450 federal law enforcement officers were deployed across the city on Saturday.
The city’s police department said violent crime was down 26 percent in the first seven months of this year, compared with last year, while overall crime was down about 7 percent.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, said on Sunday the capital was “not experiencing a crime spike.”
“It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023,” Bowser said on MSNBC’s The Weekend.
“We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low,” she said.
Bowser said Trump was “very aware” of the city’s work with federal law enforcement after meeting him several weeks ago in the Oval Office.
The US Congress has control of Washington’s budget after the district was established in 1790 with land from neighboring Virginia and Maryland, but resident voters elect a mayor and city council.
For Trump to take over the city, it is likely that the Congress would have to pass a law revoking the law that established local elected leadership.
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