Trump demands homeless to 'immediately' leave Washington DC, city mayor hits back

In yet another provocative remark, US President Donald Trump said that homeless people must “move out” of Washington, DC, as he pledged to tackle crimes in the city. However, the mayor of the country’s capital pushed back against the White House’s move to compare Washington, DC, to Baghdad.

“We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Sunday. The Republican firebrand also discussed the matter in a press conference on Monday, sharing his plans to make the city “safer and more beautiful than it ever was before”.

In response to Trump’s remarks, Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, said: “We are not experiencing a crime spike.” Last month, the American president signed an executive order, making it easier for authorities to arrest homeless people. Last week, he also ordered federal law enforcement into the streets of Washington, DC, to tackle the issue.

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In his Sunday rant on Truth Social, Trump demanded that homeless people be moved out of the capital. “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” Trump wrote in his post. “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.”

He went on to share photos of tents and rubbish littering the city. “There will be no ‘MR. NICE GUY.’ We want our Capital BACK. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he added. However, the specifics of the president’s plan are not yet clear.

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However, in a 2022 speech, he proposed moving homeless people to “high-quality” tents on inexpensive land outside cities, while providing access to bathrooms and medical professionals. Trump’s social media post came just days after he ordered federal agents - including from US Park Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the US Marshals Service - into Washington, DC, to curb what he called “totally out of control” levels of crime.

Last week, a White House official told National Park Radio that up to 450 federal officers were deployed on Saturday night. The move came after a 19-year-old former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) was assaulted in an alleged attempted carjacking in Washington, DC. Trump lashed out about the incident on social media, sharing the video of the bloodied victim.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Mayor Bowser told MSNBC, “It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023.” “We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low.” She went on to slam White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for dubbing the US capital “more violent than Baghdad”.

“Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false,” Bowser said. It is pertinent to note that the homicide rate in Washington, DC, remains relatively high per capita compared to other US cities, with a total of 98 such killings recorded so far this year.

However, federal data from January suggested that Washington, DC, last year recorded its lowest overall violent crime figures, once carjacking, assault and robberies are incorporated, in 30 years. Meanwhile, Trump has said that there will be a news conference at the White House on Monday, outlining their plans to stop violent crime in the US capital.