Encampment clearings begin after Trump orders federal takeover of MPD
In a rare move, President Donald Trump federalized D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and deployed the National Guard to D.C. on Aug. 11 in response to perceived high crime rates in Washington D.C. At the press conference announcing the action, he directed law enforcement to “remove” homeless encampments. The city began unscheduled encampment closures on the morning of Aug. 13 and continued through Aug. 16.
The following timeline shows events as put together by longtime Washington D.C. street newspaper staff at Street Sense Media. Follow them as they cover the events as they unfold on their website: streetsensemedia.org.
Aug. 18, 5:45 p.m.
Local Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officers visited the area by the city’s Downtown Day Service Center this afternoon, where many people experiencing homelessness go to get meals, showers, IDs, and other assistance. Officers stood outside the center for about an hour as outreach workers and day center staff helped people both inside and outside the center to leave the area.
Despite fears that U.S. Marshals would be on the scene, the engagement was conducted by local police and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services.
At 4 p.m., about 15 people were outside the center, which is open until 5 p.m. One man, who gave his name as Willie Nelson, said that he was waiting outside the center in hopes of getting an ID; the center distributes IDs only on Thursdays, and has a limited number each week, so Nelson said that he was sleeping nearby until then, hoping to beat the rush. “I’ll be the first in line,” he said.
Police left the area shortly after 5 p.m., after the center closed, and most people left the area.
Aug. 15, 5:37 p.m.
Outside the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Court House, Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb addressed the press just after 5 p.m. announcing that a judge ruled that Pamela Smith remains in control as the D.C. chief of police.
Schwalb said that the Home Rule Act is very clear when the president can request MPD services and that those requests must be made to the D.C. mayor. “Even the President of the United States, even the Attorney General of the United States needs to comply with the law,” Schwalb said.
When asked about homelessness encampments, Schwalb repeated that federal forces need to request MPD services from the mayor and comply with D.C. law. “We have made it very clear that we have laws in our city,” Schwalb said.
Aug. 15, 5 p.m.
The Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), which normally runs encampment closures and clearings in the city, was not involved in today’s closures, according to a statement from the agency.
“The District had a scheduled engagement to close the site at Washington Circle on August 18,” a spokesperson wrote. “However, today, federal officials chose to execute the closure at the site and several others.”
MPD, which is currently under federal control, led most of the closures today.
Aug. 15, 1 p.m.
MPD officers visited the MLK Library downtown this morning, according to people outside. About 50 people usually sleep outside the library, though only about 15 people were there last night at midnight after outreach workers warned them about the efforts to remove encampments from the city.
Street Sense has been able to confirm teams visited at least five sites — MLK, Washington Circle, 26th and L, 1313 New York Avenue, and 15th and G Streets — this morning. Last night, outreach workers were at many of the same sites, as officials had confirmed federal clearings would begin at 6pm on Thursday. While federal officials did show up at Washington Circle last night, no tents were cleared.
The effort this morning was led and conducted by MPD, which is currently under federal control, rather than federal law enforcement.
Aug. 15, 12:32 p.m.
After noon, MPD officers headed further into downtown to a structure near 15th and G Streets and removed the structure. It did not appear that a resident was present, according to Street Sense reporters on the scene.
MPD Commander Jason Bagshaw said that the clearing effort was done for the day, having already hit spots near Washington Circle and the MLK Library, where people often sleep. When Street Sense asked a DHS spokesperson if the city was aware of the clearings this morning ahead of time, they said that they had no more information to share at this time.
Aug. 15, 11:32 a.m.
After clearing tents around Washington Circle, MPD headed down the street to 26th and L, where they removed three tents, displacing at least one resident. In total, at least 10 tents have been cleared thus far today.
Aug. 15, 11:30 a.m.
Law enforcement returned to encampments downtown this morning, hitting at least three sites, including some that they visited last night.
Officers were first spotted near the city’s Downtown Day Services Center, where residents and outreach workers say that they cleared some of the belongings of people in the area. MPD then went to the tents near Washington Circle, which they had attempted to clear last night, and spoke again to Meghann Abraham, whose tent was set to be cleared on Monday by the city.
Last night, agents left after Abraham showed them a sticker from the city saying that her encampment was supposed to be closed on Monday, but this time, they did not allow her to stay and told her that she had to move. Officials also threw away the tents of two other residents who were not present, clearing all tents from the circle and some from the surrounding two blocks.
Aug. 15, 1 a.m.
Tonight, federal agents were expected to visit five encampments downtown. Four of the five locations were around Washington Circle, and as of this update, no tents were cleared and no residents there were arrested. Some residents moved into shelter. It is not clear if officials visited the final location, which was several blocks away.
While both D.C. government officials and federal agents were present, it appeared federal agents were leading the effort and outreach workers and officials did not know the locations until shortly before.
D.C. government officials, Secret Service, FBI, and MPD amassed near the tents around Washington Circle around 9 p.m. FBI and MPD officers spoke to one of the residents, Meghann Abraham, who showed them the closure notice she had been given by the city earlier today, for a closure scheduled on Aug. 18.
Federal law enforcement took a picture of the notice and stepped to the side for several minutes. Ten minutes later, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage addressed the media present. He shared that the city is encouraging anyone outside to come into shelter, and that they are prepared to open more shelter beds if necessary.
At around 9:30 p.m., the federal law enforcement left the area after photographing the closure notice several times.
A few hours earlier, Abraham shared her thoughts on the closure with Street Sense reporters. She explained that she had been planning on moving anyway because of the DMHHS notice but didn’t want to move before Friday because her boyfriend had plans to go to work the next day. She said that when she had to move — either tonight or on Aug. 18 — she would probably go elsewhere in D.C. because shelter doesn’t work for her. In her experience, it felt either like “jail” or “an insane asylum.” She thinks that the federal government needs to provide people with better choices.
“They need to provide us another option, and they’re not doing that, they’re just saying, ‘Get out of here,’” she said. She also rejected what Trump has said about people experiencing homelessness.
“Being homeless is not a crime,” she said. “We’re not [all] drug addicts, we’re not criminals, like we don’t have guns or nothing. We’re just trying to live.”
Shortly after 10 p.m., FBI agents arrested a man outside the Downtown Day Services Center. Street Sense overheard the man, a social worker, and FBI agents speaking about how the man was arrested for having marijuana in his pocket, which the agents found after the man agreed to let the agents search him. Agents did not detain anyone else in the area or ask people sleeping nearby to move.
Later on, a second group of FBI and Secret Service agents as well as ICE returned to Abraham’s tent. She said that they asked for her ID and offered to help her get an ID if she needed one, which she declined. Agents then once again said that Abraham had to leave, she said, and she showed them the DMHHS notice, after which agents took photos of the sticker and left.
Government officials and outreach workers headed home by midnight.
Aug .14, 9 p.m.
Five sites have been confirmed by government officials and outreach workers for closure tonight:
- 2300 Penn NW
- 24th and K St NW
- 2200 Block K St. NW
- 1000 Block of 24th St. NW
- 21 St. and E St. NW
Ward 3 Councilmember Matthew Frumin, Secret Service members, and DMHHS just arrived at the Washington Circle Park encampment.
Aug. 14, 8:50 p.m.
Government officials confirmed on site at Washington Circle Park that the encampment will be cleared tonight regardless of stickers from DMHHS, stating that an immediate disposition was scheduled for Aug. 18. Twelve FBI agents and MPD officers are currently present.
Aug. 14, 7 p.m.
The city placed stickers this afternoon on several tents near Washington Circle Park, warning residents that the encampment will be closed on Monday. Earlier today, Wayne Turnage, deputy mayor for health and human services, said that the park was one of the spots that the city is most focused on ahead of the anticipated federal crackdown.
Aug. 14, 3:15 p.m.
According to government officials, women seeking shelter should go to Patricia Handy Swing Shelter instead of Adam’s Place.
The city closed the encampment that President Donald Trump posted photos of over the weekend, displacing at least seven residents, as encampment closures across the city began. Even though the closure was the subject of media attention and protests, it went forward, largely following normal city protocol. All residents were open to moving into shelter to avoid further interactions with authorities.
David Beatty, who said that he had lived at the encampment for about six months, wasn’t sure where he was going to go as the closure began. He and another resident were considering moving to somewhere in Virginia, where he had lived before, but he was worried about the distance. “I don’t know how far a walk that is,” he said.
Another resident, Jesse Wall, said that he planned to accept the city’s offer to move into one of the city’s shelters, and put some of his belongings in storage. All city shelters will be open 24 hours today, according to city officials, who recommend that women looking for shelter contact Adam’s/Eve’s Place, and men walk up to any low-barrier shelter.
According to a spokesperson from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), going forward, the city is allowing residents to store more than just the normal two bins worth of possessions to help to move people into shelter. The shelter hotline, (202) 399-7093, is the best place to ask any shelter-related questions.
Since Monday, outreach workers have been encouraging residents at all encampments to move inside, and the city has opened at least 70 additional shelter beds. Outreach groups are also offering transportation and hotel vouchers to encampment residents, as supplies last.
Protestors stood by as residents packed, and a city worker used the CAT 299D3 Compact Track Loader to dismantle tents set up across the street from the ones in Trump’s photographs, as all the residents in the main green packed up and moved on. The usage of the CAT is common practice for DMHHS.
During the closure, only one Metropolitan Police Officer was on site for the majority of the engagement. This is also common practice for dispositions by DMHHS.
“They’re not very interested in whether whatever they’re throwing in the trash truck is of any value,” Beatty said.
The encampment was on local land, and the immediate disposition was conducted by DMHHS. Beatty said that he had previously been living on federal land but intentionally moved to local land to avoid arrest by Park Police. Federal officials are expected to begin closing more encampments tonight across the city.
Aug. 14, 10:55 a.m.
The federal government is expected to clear encampments across the city tonight, starting at 6 p.m., according to an email from the city’s Interagency Council on Homelessness. This could impact people living on both federal and local land, and people living outside but not in traditional tent encampments.
Aug. 14, 10:10 a.m.
As the city began the encampment closure, about 12 protestors arrived, standing in the center of the encampment. Protestors held signs reading “being poor is not a crime” and “being unhoused is not a crime.”
Aug. 14, 9:35 a.m.
This morning, people living in encampments between the Kennedy Center and the US Institute of Peace began packing up ahead of an encampment closure, at least the second scheduled in the area after President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the D.C. police on Monday and his direction for law enforcement to “remove” homeless encampments.
City officials closed one encampment in the area yesterday and placed stickers on seven more tents, notifying residents that their encampment would be closed this morning and that they would have to pack up. Trump first drew attention to this encampment on Sunday, posting a photo of tents on Truth Social with a caption including “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY.”
City outreach workers have been in the area since Monday morning, working with encampment residents. Several people whom Street Sense has previously spoken to seem to have already moved from the areas along Rock Creek Parkway.
Encampment residents began packing up and leaving several hours before the closure was scheduled to start at 10am. At least one resident accepted an offer to move into shelter, and outreach workers said that they were offering phones and storage to other residents. Seven residents were still at the encampment half an hour before the closure was scheduled to begin.
The city opened additional shelter beds in the last several days. According to Tuesday night’s shelter census, the most recent available, there were just 13 beds available for men and nine for women, though not all recently added beds are represented on the census. The city has said that it is prepared to open more beds as needed.
While only seven tents were identified for removal, residents and outreach workers fear more encampments could be removed today, outside of D.C.’s normal process of notifying residents ahead of time.
The city’s protocol is to give encampment residents one week’s notice before closing their encampments but drops that down to one day in emergency situations. In March, when D.C. closed an encampment at E Street Expressway after Trump posted about it, residents had fewer than 24 hours’ notice.
As of 9:30 a.m., city officials began preparing to close the encampment, blocking off roads and bringing in garbage trucks.
Aug. 13, 12:35 p.m.
Out of the nine clearly visible tents located at the encampment photographed by President Donald Trump on his way to golf last week, seven have been tagged for clearing by the city at 10am on Thursday morning. The stickers attached to the tents note that they have been marked for: Scheduled Full Cleanup, Immediate Disposition, and Encampment Site Closure.
For more information on what cleanups by DMHHS look like, see “Cigars, clean-ups, and closures: What do encampment “engagements” look like?”
Aug. 13, 11:30 a.m.
This morning, encampment clearings began. Two days after Trump’s initial press conference, the city’s scheduled encampment cleanup in Mt. Pleasant was rescheduled less than an hour before it was supposed to begin.
Instead, the city began clearing an area along the highway in Foggy Bottom. Officials from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS) and the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) were seen at 20th Street NW and E Street NW near the entrance to the E Street Expressway, telling residents to move their tents. The encampment being cleared was along the route from the White House to the Kennedy Center, which Trump is visiting today.
Rachel Pierre, the interim head of D.C.’s Department of Human Services (DHS), said that the move was a response to the executive order and that other sites, including nearby ones that the city officials are currently at, could be closed as early as tomorrow morning.
Mayor Muriel Bowser said in a live community chat streamed on X the night before clearings began that visible tents are an issue for Trump. “This is his issue, seeing homeless encampments — it just triggers something in him,” she said.
Trump signed two executive orders as part of his move to take over the city. The first places MPD under federal control for 30 days, and the second will deploy 800 National Guard troops to the District. Trump claims that these actions will bring down crime in the city, but the violent crime rate has actually been decreasing over the last two years.
“We’ll deploy officers across the District with an overwhelming presence,” Trump said at the press conference.
Though homelessness is not mentioned in either executive order, Trump said that part of his goal was to respond to the “drugged-out maniacs and homeless people” whom he says have taken over the city.
The day before the announcement, Trump made a Truth Social Post with photos of tents along the interstate and of one person on the steps of the American Institute of Pharmacy on his way to golf. In the post, Trump called for the removal of people experiencing homelessness from the District, writing: “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY.”
In a press conference on Aug. 12, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that MPD will begin reinforcing laws against camping and that people experiencing homelessness “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, could be fined or arrested.
As of Aug. 7, the most recent day for which shelter occupancy data is available, there was only one vacant bed in the city’s low-barrier shelters. According to outreach workers, the city opened 70 additional shelter beds last week.
Trump also said during the press conference that law enforcement began removing encampments from the city’s parks and underpasses over the weekend, though Street Sense has not been able to confirm this.
Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum added that the Park Police have removed over 70 encampments since March, when Trump issued an executive order to “make the District of Columbia safe and beautiful”, and Leavitt said that there are plans to remove two final encampments on federal land.
“We’re moving the encampments away, trying to take care of people,” Trump said, adding there are “places they can go.”
“We’re going to help them as much as you can help.”
Bowser addressed the press later on Monday, telling District residents that the MPD will comply with the law and confirmed that she contacted Bondi, who was tapped by Trump to “take command” of MPD.
On Monday morning, homelessness outreach providers and staff from the Department of Human Services (DHS) visited encampments along I-66 to offer shelter and resources. DHS officials on site told residents, “From our perspective, we just want to make sure people are staying safe.”
A D.C. official familiar with the issue said that as of Aug. 12, the city’s approach to encampments has not changed, and the government will keep supporting federal partners. Street Sense has reached out to the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services (DMHHS), the D.C. agency that normally handles encampment clearings and MPD, with specific questions about how the order will impact encampment closures in the coming days, and has not yet received a response.
When Street Sense asked specifically about encampment clearings at the mayor’s press conference, including whether MPD would comply if directed to move people experiencing homelessness out of the city, Bowser ducked answering the question outright, responding, “Well, let me just say what MPD needs to be focused on, and it’s violent crime. … Our force, when the chief deploys, every day and every night, is focused on people who are committing crimes in the District.”
In an Aug. 7 email ahead of the federalization, the D.C. Attorney General’s office warned of a possible increase in involuntary commitments, or FD-12s, of people experiencing homelessness. As of Aug. 19, no spike in FD-12s has been reported, according to the D.C. Hospital Association, which tracks this data.
The White House has recently touted involuntary commitment as a solution to homelessness with an executive order that encouraged cities and states to use the practice more frequently. Street Sense reporters spoke to residents who live in the encampments along I-66 (which were pictured in Trump’s Truth Social Post) about their reactions to Trump’s announcement and threat to remove encampments. “He’s much more of a criminal than I am,” remarked G, one resident.
Courtesy of Street Sense Media / INSP.ngo