US President Donald Trump is urging homeless people in Washington, D.C., to"leave the city immediately." He assures them that the government will provide them with shelter, but that it will be"far from the capital." Trump says he wants to make Washington "safer and more beautiful than ever before."
"The homeless must leave, immediately," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform."We will give you places to sleep, but far from the capital." The US president then addressed the "criminals": "You don't have to leave. We will put you in jail, where you belong."
“I'm not going to be friendly anymore, we want our capital back!”, it sounds.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order making it easier to arrest homeless people. And last week, he decided to send federal police officers to Washington, D.C., to curb"crimes that have spiraled out of control."
Trump's decision is based on the attack on Edward Coristine, a 19-year-old former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). He was allegedly attacked during an attempted carjacking.
No crime peak
Muriel Bowser, the city's mayor and a Democrat, disagrees with the plans, emphasizing that"there is no crime spike." "It's true that we had a terrible crime wave in 2023, but it's now 2025. We've done our best to combat crime, and now we're at a 30-year low."
The figures confirm this. Federal data on Washington, DC, has indeed dropped to its lowest level in 30 years when including car theft, assault, and robberies. If only murder is considered, the city scores worse. So far this year, 99 murders have been recorded.
In terms of homelessness, according to the Department of Housing's annual report, Washington ranked 15th among U.S. cities with the most homeless in 2024, with more than 5,600 people registered as homeless.
Community Partnership, an organization that supports the homeless in Washington, DC, estimates an average of 3,782 homeless people per night. The majority sleep in shelters, but approximately 800 people are reportedly sleeping on the streets.
Quality tents and sanitary facilities?
It's still unclear how Trump plans to remove the homeless from Washington. He'll hold a press conference later today to further explain his plans.
In 2022, he did say in a speech that he wanted to move homeless people into"quality tents" and that they would have access to sanitation and medical care.
Reuters has reportedly learned from several anonymous sources in the White House that Trump intends to deploy the National Guard. The troops are reportedly already ready; it's just a matter of waiting for the president's final decision, they say. In June, Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles to suppress protests against ICE.
