Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, released the following statement in response to President Trump’s Executive Order directing the National Park Service to forcibly evict unhoused individuals from encampments located on federally-owned lands in Washington, D.C.

“Trump’s latest action to vilify people experiencing homelessness, which includes over 150,000 children, is a drain on American taxpayers and does nothing to end America’s worsening housing and homelessness crisis. Any effort to address homeless encampments must be paired with housing and supportive services. Yet, the Administration continues to dismantle federal housing programs and rescind funding for programs that help house the homeless and provide stabilizing services, like substance use treatment, mental health counseling, and job training. Trump and co-President Elon Musk have instead taken every opportunity to go after the poor to cover for the greed of their Billionaire Boys Club.

“Meanwhile, on the first of each month, families are paying the bulk of their paycheck on their rent or mortgage. As housing costs continue to skyrocket, more and more people are being forced into debt, poverty, and eviction. Today, over 771,000 people are experiencing homelessness across the country. But instead of actually lowering costs as he promised and housing the homeless, Trump is driving up the cost of housing through his reckless tariffs. From cruel orders to attack the homeless and vile immigration policies aimed at deporting hard-working immigrants – and unconstitutionally targeting legal residents – while ironically opening the floodgates for wealthy, white South Africans as a favor to Elon Musk, this latest action is simply further proof of how Trump’s dehumanization has no bounds. Committee Democrats will continue to fight this cruelty every step of the way.”

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