US President Donald Trump.
Homeless people should be removed from Washington, “immediately” and “a lot” far away, Trump said, implying that a more aggressive stance on policing the US capital-and suggesting that he could put the city under federal control.
Trump administration announced last week that the presence of Federal Security Forces in Washingtonafter the alleged assault on an former department of Government Efficiency (Doge) official, until a few weeks led by Elon Musk.
In a series of in his social truth network over the weekend, the president suggested that he can take additional measuresand a press conference for this Monday, which would aim to “end the crime, murder and death in the capital of our nation.”
Trump’s next steps remain uncertain.
“The homeless people have to leave, immediately. Let’s give you places to stay, but Far from the capital. To criminals, they don’t need to leave. Let’s put them in prison where they belong, ”Trump wrote in accompanied by makeshift photographs on the roadside and accumulated garbage.
According to the, the photographs that accompanied the post were apparently taken from the presidential entourage along the way from the White House Until the Golf Field.
Two of the images showed a total of 10 tents assembled on the grass Next to an access ramp to a highway, just over 1.5 km from the White House. The third image showed a person to sleep In the steps of the American Institute of Pharmacy Building, at Constitution Avenue.
The fourth image showed the vehicle queue that took Trump to the golf course Passing a small amount of garbage in Berma da and Street Expressway near Kennedy Center.
“There will be no mr. KIND”The President continued.” We want our capital back. ” Hours later, he wrote: “Before the tents, misery, filth and crime, It was the most beautiful capital in the world. Soon it will be like this again. ”
Last week, the president also threatened to “exercise my powers” to put Washington under federal control. An FBI spokeswoman in Washington has confirmed that his agents “are participating in reinforcing the presence of federal security forces in Washington, DC.”
Trump had already adventured the hypothesis federalizar a capital.
His latest appeal to assume control of the city was motivated by an alleged tentativa de carjacking that will have resulted in an aggression to the former doge employee Edward Coristine.
On Tuesday, Trump commented on the incident, writing that the crime in the capital is “totally out of control“, And suggested a federal Washington control if the local government” does not solve the problem, and quickly. “
The president probably has no authority to completely federate The city – unless Congress revokes a 1973 law that granted residents the right to elect its own mayor and City Council.
It can, however, temporarily assume control of the Metropolitan Police Department, “determining that there are special emergency conditions that require the use of the police force for federal purposes” – although it is unclear whether legal requirements occur.
Violent crime is falling
Violent crime in Washington has been going down in the last year and a half after a peak in 2023, according to local police data. Until August 6 this year, thefts fell 29% and violent crime generally lowered 26%. Last year, violent crime reached the lower level in over 30 yearsaccording to the Justice Department.
However, about 5,138 people are homeless in the capitaL – less 9% than the previous year, according to a count made this year by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments.
The number is higher than 2022 and 2023years when the homeless were below 5,000, but less than 6,000 registered during the 2010 decade.
Trump has been pressuring cities like Washington to remove the homeless from the streets. Last month signed an executive decree by instructing the Department of Justice to “reversing judicial and end judicial agreements that limit the ability of state and places to intern individuals on the streets that pose a risk to themselves or to third parties. ”
The decree also orders federal agencies to prioritize financing for cities that “apply prohibitions against public consumption illicit drugs, urban camps and loying. ”The measure was criticized by organizations such as the National Homelessness Law Center.
The mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowsersaid on Sunday to MSNBC that Not sure what the announcement will be this Mondaybut suspects that “he is increasing the presence of federal security forces.”
The mayor defended the performance of local authorities in combating crime, stating at MSNBC that police and federal partners “have spent the last two years to reduce violent crime in this city”.
He added that The city needs federal assistancerecalling that Washington prosecutors work for the Justice Department and that local judges are appointed by the president.
“We are not watching an increase in crime,” said Bowser. “In truth, We are seeing our numbers go down”.
