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The White House said Tuesday that those living in Washington’s sprawling homeless encampments could face fines or prison under President Trump’s plan to sweep out homeless camps.
“Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services, and if they refuse, they will be susceptible to fines or jail time,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Ms. Leavitt said under D.C. law, homeless people can be fined or sent to jail if they refuse shelter or addiction and mental health services.
“We want to make D.C. safe and beautiful, and that involves removing mentally disturbed individuals and homeless encampments,” she said. “So we will be using these regulations and code that already exists to clean up our streets.”
Since Mr. Trump signed an order earlier this year mandating beautification efforts in Washington, such as graffiti removal and eliminating homeless camps, only two encampments remain in the city, Ms. Leavitt said. She said the U.S. Park Police will remove those two this week.
Mr. Trump has vowed to evict the city’s homeless population, saying the government will give them places to stay, but it will be “far from the Capitol.”
SEE ALSO: D.C. records 100th homicide on same day Trump launches takeover to fight crime
On Monday Mr. Trump announced he was deploying the National Guard to Washington to crack down on the homeless and combat crime. As part of that effort, he placed the city’s police force under federal control.
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