U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered homeless individuals to “immediately” leave the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C., as part of his administration’s measures to reduce crime and restore what he described as the city’s former safety and beauty. The directive is one element of a broader federal push to address public safety in the capital.

The move has been met with strong criticism from Washington’s Mayor Muriel Bowser, who rejected the order and dismissed comparisons made by the White House between the U.S. capital and Baghdad as baseless.

Last month, Trump signed an order making it easier to arrest homeless individuals. The following week, he directed federal law enforcement agencies to be deployed on the streets of Washington, D.C.

On Sunday, writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, Trump declared, “The homeless must leave now. We will provide them with housing, but far from the capital. Criminals, you don’t have to leave — we will send you to jail. We want our capital back. No courtesy will be shown.”

Two days earlier, on Friday, Trump ordered the deployment of federal agents — including the U.S. Park Police, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and U.S. Marshals Service — to tackle what he called “completely out of control” crime in the city. According to a White House official speaking to National Public Radio (NPR), around 450 federal officers were deployed on Saturday night.

The order came shortly after a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was attacked during an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C. Trump expressed outrage over the incident on social media, posting a photograph showing the victim with visible injuries.

Mayor Bowser, speaking to MSNBC, argued that while crime did increase in 2023, the situation has since improved. She noted that violent crime in the city has been reduced to its lowest levels in three decades. Bowser also criticized White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s comment likening the capital to being “more violent than Baghdad,” calling it exaggerated and incorrect.

Nevertheless, Washington, D.C., continues to have a higher homicide rate compared to many other U.S. cities. As of the latest reports this year, 98 homicides have been recorded in the city. Federal data shows that in 2024, overall violent crime — including robbery, assault, and burglary — reached its lowest rate in 30 years.

Sources: BBC, Reuters, The Guardian