Trump to DC's Homeless: Get Out Now

President Trump has ordered homeless people to move out of Washington, DC, "immediately." "We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital," he wrote Sunday morning on Truth Social, not long after arriving at his Virginia golf club from the White House, the Guardian reports. Trump shared photos that appeared to be taken from his motorcade, showing a handful of tents near a highway on-ramp about a mile from the White House and one person sleeping on the steps of the American Institute of Pharmacy Building.

Trump then teased Monday's press conference, where he vowed to address crime and the "beautification" of the capital. "The Crime Numbers get worse, and the City only gets dirtier and less attractive," he wrote. "Before the tents, squalor, filth, and Crime, it was the most beautiful Capital in the World. It will soon be that again." Data released in January shows violent crime in DC was actually down 35% in 2024 for its lowest level in 30 years, per the Guardian. Mayor Muriel Bowser said Sunday that violent crime has declined another 26% so far this year, and that overall crime is down 7%, per MSNBC.

Homelessness, though a visible problem, is not an epidemic. About 800 unsheltered people sleep outside in the city of 700,000, according to the Community Partnership. Another 3,275 use emergency shelters and 1,065 are in transitional housing. As president, Trump controls only federal land and buildings in DC. It's unclear what legal authority he plans to use to evict homeless people. "The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong," he wrote as he reportedly prepares to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, per Reuters.