A nonprofit in Washington, D.C., has responded to President Donald Trump‘s “various threats” after he pledged to evict homeless people from the nation’s capital.
“No one has authority in this country to decide who has a right to live in a jurisdiction and who doesn’t,” the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, which provides pro bono legal services, wrote in a series of posts on X.
“No one can be banished from a jurisdiction. We will not stand by if the federal government attempts to abuse its power against our community in this way,” it continued.
Newsweek has contacted the White House, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for comment via emails sent on Monday outside regular business hours.
President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., on August 8.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Why It Matters
Trump has promised new steps to tackle crime and homelessness in the District of Columbia following an attack on a young administration staffer earlier in August. However, it remains unclear what legal authority he plans to use to remove homeless people since the president controls only federal land and buildings in the capital.
While Trump has repeatedly suggested that authority over Washington could be returned to federal authorities, doing so would require Congress to repeal the Home Rule Act of 1973—a move the president said lawyers were examining, which could face significant pushback.
Trump’s pledge, if enacted, could lead to the forced removals of homeless people in the capital. According to the Community Partnership, an organization working to reduce homelessness in D.C., 3,782 single persons as well as 1,356 adults and children in 440 households experience homelessness on any given night in Washington, D.C., but most are in emergency shelters or transitional housing rather than on the street.
What To Know
On Sunday, Trump wrote on Truth Social, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,” adding that they would receive “places to stay” far from the capital and that criminals would be jailed.
Last week, the president directed federal law enforcement agencies to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, and reports have emerged that Trump is considering deploying hundreds of members of the National Guard.
“We are watching closely as the federal government broadcasts various threats to folks without homes in D.C.,” the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless wrote on X. “We want to be clear about a few things.”
The nonprofit said the federal government did not have the legal authority to “disappear large groups of people because they cannot afford housing or are visibly homeless. They do not have the authority to force people to move out of the state/city they live in.”
While Trump has cited rising crime to justify his moves, police data for Washington shows that homicides, assaults and robberies are all down this year compared to last year. Overall, violent crime is down 26 percent in the district from the same time last year.
What People Are Saying
The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless wrote on X on Sunday: “People are not criminals or dangerous, by virtue of their unhoused status. People are struggling to afford rent and food in an expensive city. We should not have homelessness in our nation’s capital. But the path to ending homelessness is housing, not displacement.”
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday: “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY. 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. It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said on MSNBC‘s The Weekend on Sunday: “I have believed for a long time that Trump had a view that when he left the White House the last time at the height of COVID, he had a lot of concerns about homelessness as did we. Those conditions simply don’t exist now.”
She added: “If the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here. But it won’t be because there’s a spike in crime.”
What Happens Next
Trump wrote on social media that he would discuss his plans “on crime and ‘beautification'” at a White House news conference at 10 a.m. on Monday.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.