'There will be no MR NICE GUY': Trump orders homeless people to move out of Washington DC 'IMMEDIATELY,' threatens federal takeover again

US President Donald Trump on Sunday (Aug 10) demanded that Washington, DC's homeless population be removed from the capital "immediately". Calling for the US capital's homeless population to "move out IMMEDIATELY" or face eviction, he demanded that they must be relocated "far from the Capital." Trump also, once again, repeated his threat to deploy federal officers to tackle crime, despite city data showing violent crime is at its lowest point in more than 30 years.

'Move out IMMEDIATELY'

In a post on Truth Social on Sunday, Trump wrote, "The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY". Addressing the homeless population, he promised that his government "will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital". His post included four photos apparently taken from his motorcade as he travelled from the White House to his golf club in Virginia. The photos showed tents along a highway on-ramp just over a mile from the White House, a sleeping man on the steps of the American Institute of Pharmacy Building on Constitution Avenue, and some roadside litter on the E Street Expressway, near the Kennedy Centre. He also warned the criminals, saying, “you don’t have to move out. We’re going to put you in jail where you belong. It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border.”

Trump also used the post to promote a Monday (Aug 11) news conference that he claims "will, essentially, stop violent crime" without giving specifics. He has previously also claimed that the 10am press conference "will not only involve ending the Crime, Murder, and Death in our Nation’s Capital, but will also be about Cleanliness". The Free DC movement has planned a protest at the same time.

Does Washington have a homelessness, crime epidemic?

As per The Guardian, despite Trump's claims, the US has no homelessness or violent crime epidemic. Data from the Community Partnership, which works to prevent homelessness in Washington DC, shows that every night, the city of about 700,000 people has about 800 unsheltered residents, 3,275 in emergency shelters, and 1,065 in transitional housing.

Trump's repeated claims that it might be necessary to federalise law enforcement also have no data backing them. Violent crime in 2024 is down 35 per cent from 2023 and down another 26 per cent so far this year, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. Mayor Muriel Bowser, in a conversation with MSNBC, insisted that the city was "not experiencing a crime spike". She said that they "have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low.”

She added that "Federal law enforcement is always on the street in DC, and we always work cooperatively with them." Trump has recently ordered a surge of federal officers into DC, ordering them to increase patrols, citing the assault case of DOGE whiz kid Edward Corstein aka 'Big Balls' which has already been handled by local police. He has also floated overturning the city's 1973 Home Rule Act to impose direct federal control, something the White House says lawyers are "studying" the possibility of legislation to overturn the law granting Washington DC self-rule.

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