Trump gives DC’s unhoused population an ultimatum: shelter, treatment or jail

Watch Trump gives DC’s unhoused population an ultimatum: shelter, treatment or jail - Straight Arrow News on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00As hundreds of National Guard troops are deployed to Washington, D.C.,

00:03the White House is giving the city's unhoused population an ultimatum.

00:10So homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment,

00:15to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services,

00:20and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or to jail time.

00:24Caroline Levitt says Metro Police and federal agents in D.C.

00:28will enforce the rules based on existing laws.

00:31Again, these are pre-existing laws that are already on the books.

00:34They have not been enforced, which is part of the reason for this federalizing of the National Guard

00:41to bring in this assistance for law enforcement.

00:44But neither the code nor regulations she mentioned specifies how police must offer mental health or addiction treatment.

00:51The move also comes as the Justice Department reports crime in D.C. hit a 30-year low last year.

00:58Data from the Capitol also shows homelessness decreased by 9 percent in 2024.

01:04But President Trump calls D.C.'s crime out of control and promises to address it with the federalization of the city.

01:11He says he wants to move unhoused people far away from the nation's Capitol.

01:15Homeless advocates worry many will now be forced into unfamiliar territory.

01:19And probably the vast majority of people who are unsheltered homeless or just, you know, unhoused here in D.C.

01:26are from D.C.

01:28and they grew up here and they were raised here and this is their home and they don't want to leave.

01:35Advocates also raise concerns for unhoused people due to a lack of infrastructure.

01:40They also say it does not address one of the main sources of the problem, an inadequate amount of affordable housing.

01:46Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced earlier this week that the Trump administration removed more than 70 homeless encampments.

01:54Still, Community Partnership, a non-profit that helps unsheltered people, says on any given night in D.C.,

02:01there can be up to 798 homeless individuals in the city.

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