Federal Raids Target D.C. Homeless Camps

The federal authorities were attempting to clear homeless encampments in northwestern Washington on Thursday night as part of President Trump’s sprawling takeover of the city’s law enforcement apparatus, after city officials and advocates had spent much of the day urging unhoused people to go to shelters or risk arrest.

A federal operation that had been expected to start at 6:30 p.m. seemed to get underway only after dark. At around 9 p.m., federal agents from the F.B.I. and the U.S. Secret Service arrived at Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom area to remove a few tents where homeless people had long stayed, according to Wes Heppler of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. They retreated after a woman presented a city notice saying she had until Monday to leave.

“We were told that there would be a list of sites that would receive closure activity from the National Park Service and other law enforcement officials, and we would support that effort by providing a connection to homeless services for those who are adversely impacted,” Wayne Turnage, Washington’s deputy mayor for health and human services, told reporters at the site of the clearing at Washington Circle.

As the night unfolded and the city braced for raids, it was unclear how widespread or effective the raids were, with federal agents showing up in groups at sites and confronting the small numbers of homeless people they encountered.

“The District has worked proactively with homeless residents ahead these actions to provide services and offers of shelter,” read a statement from the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. “D.C. will support the engagements with wraparound services and trash pickup, but the planned engagements are otherwise the purview of the federal agencies.”

There were signs that the show of force might run into some obstacles. At Washington Circle, Meghann Abraham, 34, who has been living outside in the area since March, presented agents with a notice that the city had given her earlier in the day, allowing her until Monday to clear out. The agents discussed the matter among themselves and then left soon after.