DC cracks down on homeless camps
Move follows federal takeover of police force
By: Christoper Cann
USA Today
WASHINGTON - Under the blazing sun, people living in homeless encampments in Washington packed up their belongings before authorities moved in with garbage trucks on August 14 [2025] as President Donald Trump;s crackdown on the nation's capital ramped up.
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At a camp a few miles form the Lincoln Memorial and the Kennedy Center, about eight people broke down their tents with the help of city workers and homeless advocacy groups.
..... "(The president) is targeting us and persecuting us," said David Beatty, a man living in the encampment that Trump posted a photo of on social Media August 10. [2025] "He wants to take our freedom away."
..... The moves came days after trump assumed federal control of the city's police department and mobilized the National Guard, declaring a "crime emergency" and vowing to clear homeless people off the streets.
..... Cities across the United States, including longtime Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, have incarcerated homeless sweeps and encampment closures. A landmark 2024 Supreme Court decision that permitted laws banning people form sleeping outside, even if they have nowhere else to go, led to a broad crackdown in dozens of cities, towns and rural communities nationwide.
..... This year, [2025] the U.S. Park Police has disbanded about 70 encampments from federal parks in the capital, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
..... The speedy operation came with little warning, and local officials and social workers sought to get ahead of he anticipated operations. In mid-August, works with the District of Columbia's Department of Human Services visited each of the known encampments, warning of the impending crackdown and offering residents beds in local shelters and places to store belongings.
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Rachel Pierre, acting director of the city's human services department, said shelter were full when the president's order came down. The agency added about 70 beds and expanded storage space, and it is prepared to open more.
..... "What we are committed to is that we don't turn anybody away form shelter right now,: Piere said.
..... Since the pandemic, the number of people living in DC's homeless encampments has declined by two-thirds, said Wayne Turnage, deputy mayor of the city's Department of Health and Human Services. There are still many homeless people who are not living in encampments, advocacy groups say. In January, [2025] the city counted 900 people living on the streets during a one-night survey.
..... Advocates warned the root causes of homelessness and only make the crisis worse by forcing people into a cycle of jail, debt and living on the streets.
..... "Fines, arrests and encampment evictions make homelessness worse, further traumatize our homeless neighbors while disconnecting them from community and support," said Dana White, director of advocacy for Miriam's Kitchen, a local organization that works with hothoused people. "If policing resolved homelessness, we wouldn't have homelessness."
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The operation left the city's homeless population scrambling. Some planed to mover into shelters, while others said they would go to neighboring states. A few said they would wander the city hoping to stumble on a safe place to sleep.
..... "I haven't known what's next for so long that it's part of normal life at this point," said Jesse Wall, 43, who was forced to leave the encampment he's lived in for close to a year. "We'll see what happens.
..... On August 14, [2025] Wall stuffed his clothes, his rolled-up sleeping bag and a folder of important documents in silver trash bags. He had come home the night before to find a note tacked to his tent saying the encampment would be taken down the following morning.
..... After packing up, he and his neighbors milled around the grassy median where they lived, discussing what they would do next and where to go.
..... Wall said he might stay at a shelter for a few nights. Beyond that, he wasn't sure.
..... "It's cruel," he said of the demolition.
..... Beatty said he may go to Virgina.
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"I don't know how far of a walk that is," he said, as a bulldozer began teaing through a tent.
..... Contributing: Karissa Waddick, USA Today