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US President Donald Trump said the homeless should "get out" of Washington as he vowed to fight crime in the city, sparking a bitter confrontation with the mayor, who criticized the White House for comparing the capital to Baghdad.
"We will give you places to stay, but away from the capital. Criminals don't have to move. We will put you in jail where you belong," Trump wrote on Sunday.
The Republican president also canceled a press conference scheduled for Monday about his plan to make the city “safer and more beautiful than ever before.” “We are not seeing an increase in crime,” said Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Last month, Trump signed an executive order making it easier to arrest homeless people, and last week he ordered federal law enforcement to enter the streets of Washington. "The homeless must leave immediately," he wrote on the social media site Truth Social.
Sharing photos of tents and debris, he added: "There will be no 'Mr. Good'. We want our capital back. Thank you for your attention to this issue!"
Details of the president's plan have not yet been clarified, but in a speech in 2022 he proposed relocating homeless people to "quality" tents on free land outside cities, which would also provide access to toilets and medical staff.
On Friday, Trump ordered federal agents, including the U.S. Park Police, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the U.S. Military Office of Inspector General, in Washington to take action to curb what he called "totally out of control" crime levels.
A White House official told National Public Radio that up to 450 federal officers were deployed to the area Saturday night. The move comes after a 19-year-old former Department of Government Efficiency (DoGE) employee was attacked in a suspected carjacking attempt in Washington.
Trump expressed his views on the incident on social media, posting a photo of the bloodied victim. Mayor Bowser told MSNBC on Sunday that "it's true that we had a terrible increase in crime in 2023, but that's not the case in 2023. In the last two years, we have reduced violent crime in this city, bringing it to the lowest level in 30 years."
She criticized White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller for calling the U.S. capital "more violent than Baghdad." "Any comparison to a war-torn country is exaggerated and false," she said.
Washington's murder rate remains relatively high per capita compared to other U.S. cities, with a total of 98 murders recorded so far this year. Homicides have increased in the U.S. capital compared to a decade ago.
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