President Donald Trump said that he told Washington DC Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser to clear homeless encampments in the city, vowing to use federal resources to remove the tents.

Trump posted on Truth Social that Bowser “must clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments,” a move that would allow Americans “to be proud of our great capital again.”

The commander-in-chief specifically mentioned “the ones outside of the State Department” as well as “near the White House,” adding that “if she is not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her.” Trump thanked Bowser “for your efforts on behalf of the citizens of our country.”

Bowser has voiced support for dealing with homelessness in DC. The official has recently been discussing the high rates of homelessness in the city with Trump administration representatives.

“Certainly we are a city that has shelter for people who are on the streets, and we want them inside, absolutely,” Bowser said in comments to local news. “We try to work with our residents to get them to a place where they want to come inside, and that’s always been our strategy.”

There are indeed rising levels of homelessness in Washington, with the number of people on the streets increasing from 4,400 as of 2022 to more than 5,600 as of 2024, according to a report from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, a nonprofit that coordinates issues between the local governments of DC, northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland.

DC and the surrounding areas, such as Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax, have a total of nearly 9,800 homeless people as of 2024, an increase from 7,400 homeless people recorded in 2022.

Many major cities across the country have dealt with elevated homelessness and crime in recent years, prompting some businesses and residents to shutter locations or move elsewhere.