WASHINGTON — Homeless people in DC will be given the option of going to a shelter — or, if they refuse, jail — as part of President Trump’s sweeping crime crackdown in the capital, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday.
“The new federal agencies who have been surging on the streets of the District of Columbia are going to enforce the laws that are already on the books here in Washington, DC,” Leavitt said.
“For far too long, these laws have been completely ignored and the homelessness problem has ravaged the city. So DC Code 22-1307 and DC Municipal Regulation 24-100 give the Metropolitan Police Department the authority to take action when it comes to homeless encampments.”
Leavitt said that “homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter to be offered addiction or mental health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time again.”
Trump on Monday asserted federal control over the 3,400-officer DC Metropolitan Police Department and ordered the DC National Guard and hundreds of federal agents onto the streets to address crime.
The president cited many high-profile recent crimes in DC, including the Aug. 3 attack on former Department of Government Efficiency staffer Edward Coristine, 19, during an alleged attempted carjacking and the June 30 murder of congressional intern Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, 21, in a drive-by shooting.
“While we are targeting criminals and trying to remove criminals off of the streets, we also want to make DC safe and beautiful,” Leavitt said Tuesday.
“That involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments as well. So we will be using these regulations and codes that already exist to clean up our streets.”
Leavitt said that US Park Police, which has jurisdiction over most of DC’s major traffic circles and triangles, will work alongside MPD to house or incarcerate the homeless, who during Mayor Muriel Bowser’s prior cleanup attempts have migrated in response to crackdowns.
“The United States Park Police has actually done remarkable work in terms of removing homeless encampments from the city,” she said.
Since March, “70 homeless encampments have been removed by the US Park Police,” Leavitt said.
“There are only two homeless encampments remaining in DC federal parks under the National Park Service’s jurisdiction, and the removal of those two remaining camps is scheduled for this week.”
