WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump pledged on Sunday to evict homeless individuals from the nation’s capital and jail criminals, regardless of Washington’s mayor arguing there is no such thing as a present spike in crime.
Whereas particulars of the plan have been unclear, the administration is making ready to deploy a whole bunch of Nationwide Guard troops to Washington, a U.S. official advised Reuters, a controversial tactic Trump used recently in Los Angeles to sort out immigration protests over the objections of native officers.
Trump has not made a closing determination, the official mentioned, including that the variety of troops and their position are nonetheless being decided.
Not like in California and each different state, the place the governor usually decides when to activate Guard troops, the president immediately controls the Nationwide Guard in Washington, D.C.
Previous situations of the Guard’s deployment within the metropolis embody in response to the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
“The Homeless have to maneuver out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump posted on his Reality Social platform. “We will provide you with locations to remain, however FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don’t have to maneuver out. We’re going to place you in jail the place you belong.”
The White Home declined to elucidate what authorized authority Trump would use to evict individuals from Washington. The Republican president controls solely federal land and buildings within the metropolis.
Trump plans to carry a press conference on Monday to “cease violent crime in Washington, D.C.” It was not clear whether or not he would announce extra particulars of his eviction plan then.
There are 3,782 single individuals experiencing homelessness on any given evening within the metropolis of about 700,000, says the Group Partnership, a company working to scale back homelessness in D.C.
Most such people are in emergency shelters or transitional housing, reasonably than on the road, it says.
A White Home official mentioned on Friday extra federal regulation enforcement officers have been being deployed within the metropolis following a violent assault on a younger administration staffer that angered the president.
Alleged crimes investigated by federal brokers on Friday evening included “a number of individuals carrying a pistol with out license,” motorists driving on suspended licenses and dust bike using, a White Home official mentioned on Sunday.
The official mentioned 450 federal regulation enforcement officers have been deployed throughout town on Saturday.
Town’s police division says violent crime was down 26% in D.C. within the first seven months of 2025, in contrast with final yr, whereas total crime was down about 7%.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, D.C., Muriel Bowser, mentioned on Sunday the capital was “not experiencing a criminal offense spike.”
“It’s true that we had a horrible spike in crime in 2023, however this isn’t 2023,” Bowser mentioned on MSNBC’s the Weekend. “We now have spent during the last two years driving down violent crime on this metropolis, driving it all the way down to a 30-year low.”
Bowser mentioned Trump was “very conscious” of town’s work with federal regulation enforcement after assembly him a number of weeks in the past within the Oval Workplace.
The U.S. Congress has management of D.C.’s price range after the district was established in 1790 with land from neighboring Virginia and Maryland, however resident voters elect a mayor and metropolis council.
For Trump to take over town, it’s seemingly that Congress must move a regulation revoking the regulation that established native elected management.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson, Nandita Bose and Idrees Ali in Washington; Modifying by Matthew Lewis and Clarence Fernandez)
