Donald Trump says homeless people must leave US capital ‘immediately'
Donald Trump
pledged on Sunday to evict homeless people from the nation's capital and jail criminals, despite Washington's mayor arguing there is no current spike in crime.
While details of the plan were unclear, the administration is preparing to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, a US official told Reuters, a controversial tactic Trump used recently in Los Angeles to tackle immigration protests over the objections of local officials.
Trump has not made a final decision, the official said, adding that the number of troops and their role are still being determined.
Unlike in California and every other state, where the governor typically decides when to activate Guard troops, the president directly controls the National Guard in Washington, DC.
READ MORE
Past instances of the Guard's deployment in the city include in response to the January 6th, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.
'The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,' Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. 'We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong.'
The White House declined to explain what legal authority Trump would use to evict people from Washington. The Republican president controls only federal land and buildings in the city.
Trump plans to hold a press conference on Monday to 'stop violent crime in Washington, D.C.'. It was not clear whether he would announce more details of his eviction plan then.
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How affordable housing in Dublin's north inner city has rapidly changed to homeless accommodation
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There are 3,782 single people experiencing
homelessness
on any given night in the city of about 700,000, says the Community Partnership, an organisation working to reduce homelessness in DC.
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Irish homeless numbers hit new record high of 15,915
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Most such individuals are in emergency shelters or transitional housing, rather than on the street, it says.
A White House official said on Friday more federal law enforcement officers were being deployed in the city following a violent attack on a young administration staffer that angered the president.
Alleged crimes investigated by federal agents on Friday night included 'multiple persons carrying a pistol without license', motorists driving on suspended licenses and dirt bike riding, a White House official said on Sunday.
The official said 450 federal law enforcement officers were deployed across the city on Saturday.
The city's police department says violent crime was down 26 per cent in DC in the first seven months of 2025, compared with last year, while overall crime was down about 7 per cent.
The Democratic mayor of Washington, DC, Muriel Bowser, said on Sunday the capital was 'not experiencing a crime spike'.
'It is true that we had a terrible spike in crime in 2023, but this is not 2023,' Bowser said on MSNBC's the Weekend. 'We have spent over the last two years driving down violent crime in this city, driving it down to a 30-year low.'
Bowser said Trump was 'very aware' of the city's work with federal law enforcement after meeting him several weeks ago in the Oval Office.
The US Congress has control of DC's budget after the district was established in 1790 with land from neighbouring Virginia and Maryland, but resident voters elect a mayor and city council.
For Trump to take over the city, it is likely that Congress would have to pass a law revoking the law that established local elected leadership. – Reuters
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RTÉ News
6 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Trump deploys National Guard to Washington DC
US President Donald Trump has said he was putting Washington's police department under federal control and ordering the National Guard to deploy to the nation's capital to combat what he said was a wave of lawlessness, despite statistics showing that violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024. "This is Liberation Day in DC, and we're going to take our capital back," Mr Trump said at a White House press conference. "I'm deploying the National Guard to help reestablish law, order and public safety in Washington, DC," Mr Trump told reporters at the White House, flanked by administration officials including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Attorney General Pam Bondi. "Our capital city has been overtaken by violent gangs and bloodthirsty criminals." Mr Trump's announcement is his latest effort to target Democratic cities by exercising executive power over traditionally local matters. He has dismissed criticism that he is manufacturing a crisis to justify expanding presidential authority. Hundreds of officers and agents from over a dozen federal agencies, including the FBI, ICE, DEA, and ATF, have already fanned out across the city in recent days. The Democratic mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, has pushed back on Mr Trump's claims, saying the city is "not experiencing a crime spike" and highlighting that violent crime hit its lowest level in more than three decades last year. Violent crime fell 26% in the first seven months of 2025 after dropping 35% in 2024, and overall crime dropped 7%, according to the city's police department. But gun violence remains an issue. In 2023, Washington had the third-highest gun homicide rate among US cities with populations over 500,000, according to gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The deployment of National Guard troops is a tactic the Republican president used in Los Angeles, where he dispatched 5,000 troops in June in response to protests over his administration's immigration raids. State and local officials objected to Mr Trump's decision as unnecessary and inflammatory. A federal trial was set to begin in San Francisco on whether the Trump administration violated US law by deploying National Guard troops and US Marines without the approval of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. The president has broad authority over the 2,700 members of the DC National Guard, unlike in states where governors typically hold the power to activate troops. Guard troops have been dispatched to Washington many times, including in response to the 6 January 2021, attack on the US Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters. During his first term, Mr Trump sent the National Guard into Washington in 2020 to help quash mostly peaceful demonstrations during nationwide protests over police brutality following the murder of George Floyd. Civil rights leaders denounced the deployment, which was opposed by Ms Bowser.
Irish Independent
7 minutes ago
- Irish Independent
Trump says he's deploying National Guard in Washington DC to tackle crime and homelessness
Trump has promised new steps to tackle homelessness and crime in Washington, prompting the city's mayor to voice concerns about the potential use of the National Guard to patrol the streets. Ahead of a news conference, Trump said Monday on social media that the nation's capital would be 'LIBERATED today!' He said he would end the 'days of ruthlessly killing, or hurting, innocent people.' For Trump, the effort to take over public safety in Washington reflects a next step in his law enforcement agenda after his aggressive push to stop illegal border crossings. But the move involves at least 500 federal law enforcement officials, raising fundamental questions about how an increasingly emboldened federal government will interact with its state and local counterparts. The president has used his social media and White House megaphones to message that his administration is tough on crime, yet his ability to shape policy might be limited outside of Washington, which has a unique status as a congressionally established federal district. Nor is it clear how his push would address the root causes of homelessness and crime. About 500 federal law enforcement officers are being tasked with deploying throughout the nation's capital as part of the Trump administration's effort to combat crime, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press on Monday. More than 100 FBI agents and about 40 agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are among federal law enforcement personnel being assigned to patrols in Washington, the person briefed on the plans said. The Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Marshals Service are also contributing officers. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss personnel matters and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. The Justice Department didn't immediately have a comment Monday morning. Trump in a Sunday social media post had emphasized the removal of Washington's homeless population, though it was unclear where the thousands of people would go. 'The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY,' Trump wrote Sunday. 'We will give you places to stay, but FAR from the Capital. The Criminals, you don't have to move out. We're going to put you in jail where you belong.' Last week, the Republican president directed federal law enforcement agencies to increase their presence in Washington for seven days, with the option 'to extend as needed.' On Friday night, federal agencies including the Secret Service, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service assigned more than 120 officers and agents to assist in Washington. Trump said last week that he was considering ways for the federal government to seize control of Washington, asserting that crime was 'ridiculous' and the city was 'unsafe,' after the recent assault of a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat, questioned the effectiveness of using the Guard to enforce city laws and said the federal government could be far more helpful by funding more prosecutors or filling the 15 vacancies on the D.C. Superior Court, some of which have been open for years. Bowser cannot activate the National Guard herself, but she can submit a request to the Pentagon. 'I just think that's not the most efficient use of our Guard,' she said Sunday on MSNBC's 'The Weekend,' acknowledging it is "the president's call about how to deploy the Guard.' Bowser was making her first public comments since Trump started posting about crime in Washington last week. She noted that violent crime in Washington has decreased since a rise in 2023. Trump's weekend posts depicted the district as 'one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the World." For Bowser, 'Any comparison to a war-torn country is hyperbolic and false.' Police statistics show homicides, robberies and burglaries are down this year when compared with this time in 2024. Overall, violent crime is down 26pc compared with this time a year ago. Trump offered no details in Truth Social posts over the weekend about possible new actions to address crime levels he argues are dangerous for citizens, tourists and workers alike. The White House declined to offer additional details about Monday's announcement. The police department and the mayor's office did not respond to questions about what Trump might do next. The president criticized the district as full of 'tents, squalor, filth, and Crime,' and he seems to have been set off by the attack on Edward Coristine, among the most visible figures of the bureaucracy-cutting effort known as DOGE. Police arrested two 15-year-olds in the attempted carjacking and said they were looking for others. 'This has to be the best run place in the country, not the worst run place in the country,' Trump said Wednesday. He called Bowser 'a good person who has tried, but she has been given many chances.' Trump has repeatedly suggested that the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining. It could face steep pushback. Bowser acknowledged that the law allows the president to take more control over the city's police, but only if certain conditions are met. 'None of those conditions exist in our city right now," she said. 'We are not experiencing a spike in crime. In fact, we're watching our crime numbers go down.'
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
How US-Pakistan relations have turned around under Trump — to India's alarm
Pakistan 's chief of army staff Asim Munir smiled for the camera this weekend, arm in arm with a top American general – his second warm welcome this summer into the heart of the US establishment. Munir travelled to Florida for the retirement of Gen Michael Kurilla, the commander of US military forces in the Middle East, who has previously praised the Pakistan strongman for a 'phenomenal partnership' in the fight against terrorism. To Gen Dan Caine, America's top military officer, Munir passed a plaque and an invitation to visit Pakistan. Even more remarkably, in June Munir had a two-hour private lunch in Washington with Donald Trump , just a month after Pakistan and arch-rival India fought their bloodiest military confrontation for decades. It was an astonishing reception for a man who, despite wielding the country's most powerful office, is not a head of government – and even more so for an official representing Pakistan. Relations with Washington were assumed to be heading for the rocks after the re-election of Trump, who once accused the nuclear-armed country of 240 million people of offering the US 'nothing but lies and deceit'. READ MORE Instead, the Trump administration's ties with Islamabad appear to be blossoming, while India – which was left seething by Munir's White House welcome – has faced scorn despite Narendra Modi 's previous friendly bond with Trump. 'What's happening in US-Pakistan relations is a surprise. I would describe the relationship now as one that's enjoying an unexpected resurgence, even a renaissance,' says Michael Kugelman, a non-resident senior fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation. 'Pakistan has very successfully understood how to engage with such an unconventional president.' India and Pakistan's contrasting diplomatic fortunes have the potential to upend geopolitics in volatile south Asia and are already feeding into trade, where the US gave Islamabad a relatively light 19 per cent tariff while hitting New Delhi with a punitive 50 per cent. Trump also promised a deal to develop what he called Pakistan's 'massive Oil Reserves', while Pakistan is offering other investment opportunities to the US, hoping to revive its bailout-dependent economy. The newfound US admiration for Pakistan is partly the fruit of a charm offensive concocted by Pakistan's senior generals, leveraging counterterrorism co-operation, outreach to business people close to Trump and deals covering energy, critical minerals and cryptocurrencies – all accompanied by a cascade of flattery for the White House. Leaders in Islamabad believed they needed to urgently get into the good graces of the erratic president and some of his allies who had been deeply critical of Pakistan over its alleged support for the Taliban during Nato's war in Afghanistan. Project 2025, a pre-election blueprint that has inspired many early Trump administration moves, lambasted Pakistan's military-dominated regime as an 'intensely anti-American and corrupt' client of China. Members of Trump's inner circle also targeted increasingly autocratic Pakistan's treatment of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan. A bipartisan group in congress began to draft legislation to impose sanctions on Munir over Khan's imprisonment. 'We had no idea what to expect with him, but the general consensus was that it was likely going to be rough,' said one senior Pakistani diplomat. Pakistan's turnaround was helped early on by what the US saw as an important arrest. In March Asim Malik, the head of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, delivered a high-value Isis-K operative who the US said was behind a 2021 bombing in Kabul that killed more than 180 people, including 13 US soldiers. His capture earned Pakistan Trump's praise in his March State of the Union address, when the US president also lambasted India over high tariffs. Crucially, too, Pakistan deployed a form of crypto diplomacy to make its way into Trump's inner circle. World Liberty Financial, a Trump-backed cryptocurrency venture, signed a letter of intent with Pakistan's crypto council in April, when its co-founders visited Pakistan. Zach Witkoff, the son of US special envoy Steve Witkoff, said during the trip that Pakistan had 'trillions of dollars' of mineral wealth ripe for tokenisation. Since then, Bilal bin Saqib, Pakistan's minister for crypto and blockchain, has emerged as a shadow diplomat, taking part in trade talks with Washington and pitching Pakistan's crypto potential to figures close to Trump's family and advisers. Pakistani officials also point to their conduct during the May conflict with India as having bolstered their credibility with Trump. In their telling, Pakistan displayed a combination of strength and restraint, shooting down a handful of Indian jets but refraining from massive escalation, while the US and Gulf states worked the phones to secure a ceasefire. Islamabad also gave credit to Trump for brokering the truce with New Delhi – to the point of nominating the US president for the Nobel Peace Prize . Trading his khakis for a suit and tie this weekend, Munir again heaped praise on the US president when speaking to a group of Pakistani-Americans in Tampa. Munir said Trump's 'strategic leadership' had prevented 'many wars in the world', according to a Pakistani official. 'Trump needs success stories to proclaim and Pakistan is happy to give them to him,' says Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistan ambassador to the US now at the Hudson Institute, a think-tank in Washington. By contrast, Modi has taken a more flinty approach. The day before the lunch with Munir in June, the Indian leader had a testy phone call with the US president about his role in the truce. Modi then publicly contradicted Trump by saying the agreement with Pakistan did not come about because of American intervention, but was at Pakistan's initiative and took place through existing channels of communication between the two countries' armed forces. 'Prime Minister Modi firmly stated that India does not and will never accept mediation,' India said in a summary of the call. Munir's visit to see the president, which came as the US prepared military strikes on Iran, also helped Pakistan's military chief tout another facet of their relationship: military and intelligence co-operation. Munir essentially offered Pakistan as a trusted back channel between the US and its adversaries Iran and China, a strategy that harks back to the Pakistan of the 1970s that facilitated Richard Nixon's opening of US relations with communist China. While Pakistan rebuked Washington for the strikes against Iran, the country continued to try to cast itself as a mediator between the US and its foes. In late July, Munir flew to Beijing, where he toured the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army and promised Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi that he would protect Chinese workers in Pakistan from insurgent attacks. And in between warm encounters with US Centcom commander Kurilla, who received military honours from Pakistan's government in late July, Munir has also welcomed Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian to Islamabad. 'Pakistan is a rare country that is friends with China, Iran, the Gulf states, to a lesser extent Russia, and now, again, the US,' said Marvin Weinbaum, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. 'The US sees Munir as someone who can play a useful strategic role, and the Pakistanis keep their lines open to everyone but know to pull back when one relationship is clashing with another.' [ Shattered Lands. Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia: Wonderful telling of a sad history Opens in new window ] For India, the burgeoning relationship between Trump and its arch-rival has caused deep irritation, aggravated by its own failure to fend steep tariffs on its far bigger economy. Trump first levied a 25 per cent tariff on India, then doubled it to 50 per cent because of Russian oil purchases. 'It will take some time to get over the lack of trust here,' said one person briefed on the events. Indian officials are also irked at seeing military-ruled Pakistan rewarded after luring Washington with business deals. 'It's very easy to deal with dysfunctional systems,' the person said – a reference to the ease with which Pakistan turned what looked like a weak position at the start of Trump's term into a win. Current and former Pakistani officials and analysts warn that Trump could still turn on Islamabad if it fails to deliver. Most of Pakistan's natural resource riches are either unproven or lie in volatile provinces beset by insurgencies that led to 2,000 deaths last year. Pakistan's economy relies on a $7 billion IMF bailout and debt rollovers from China and Gulf allies. If Trump decides to patch things up with India again, he may lash out against Pakistan to please Modi, they say. Two diplomats said Trump is hopeful, for instance, that Islamabad will recognise Israel – a tall order for Islamabad given the strength of public opposition to such a move. 'Trump is playing the Pakistan card to try and gain more advantage with India, annoy the Indians, and see if this will make them talk to him and accept his term,' says Haqqani. 'It's a transactional improvement'. 'Unelected leaders and military officials are willing to overpromise to appeal to what they think is Trump's narcissism,' adds Hussain Nadim, a former policy adviser in Pakistan who is now a Washington-based critic of Munir's rule. 'Trump and his advisers may eventually run out of patience when they see that Pakistan is not delivering.' Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, a former prime minister for the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party from 2017 to 2018 who left to start his own party, agrees that Pakistan should 'be wary of the volatility of the Trump administration'. 'Modi was once the good guy, now he's being beaten up. Zelenskiy got a public berating,' he said. 'Pakistan needs to protect both its interests and its dignity.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
