Fear and uncertainty among homeless in Los Angeles, after Trump crackdown in Washington D.C.

Record ID: 2020747

  • Title: Fear and uncertainty among homeless in Los Angeles, after Trump crackdown in Washington D.C.
  • Date: 12th August 2025
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 11, 2025) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THE ST. JOHNS MEDICAL STREET TEAM ASSISTING RESIDENTS AT MACARTHUR PARK (SOUNDBITE) (English) JESSICA SANCHEZ, DIRECTOR OF ST JOHN’S STREET MEDICINE TEAM, SAYING: “I think the new Executive Order is geared towards picking up homeless people in the streets that are actively doing drugs and taking
  • Embargoed:
  • Keywords: EXECUTIVE ORDER HOMELESS LOS ANGELES TRUMP UNHOUSED
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: North America,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA001652111082025RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:A community health group which provides medical services to homeless people in Los Angeles says it fears removal by the military, after U.S. President Trump said on Monday (August 11) he was deploying 800 National Guard troops to Washington and temporarily taking over the city's police department to fight crime while also vowing to remove homeless encampments, an extraordinary assertion of presidential power in the nation's capital.
    Trump signaled that other major U.S. cities with Democratic leadership could be next, including Chicago and Los Angeles.
    While treating unhoused people in Macarthur Park, Jessica Sanchez, Director of St John's medicine team, told Reuters, "It sounds like police are going to start coming out into the streets and detaining people, possibly by force, the way they've been doing with the ICE raids. So that may cause a lot of fear, commotion, and uncertainty among people."
    Trump's move, which bypassed the city's elected leaders, was emblematic of his second-term approach, which has seen him wield executive authority in ways with little precedent in modern U.S. history and in defiance of political norms.
    It is the second time this summer that the Republican president has deployed troops to a Democratically governed city. A federal trial began on Monday in San Francisco on whether Trump violated U.S. law by deploying National Guard troops to Los Angeles in June without the approval of California Governor Gavin Newsom.
    Oscar Moreira, 72, says his age has kept him from finding a job and is currently living in MacArthur Park. He said if National Guard troops force them to leave, "it's going to cause a huge problem for all of Los Angeles.” 
    Alexa Montero, 48, previously lived at MacArthur Park for several years before recently transitioning to temporary housing. Uncertainty over ICE raids and potential new police enforcement keeps her at home out of fear.  
    "I haven't gone out since this started. I don't go out. I'm locked up because I don't know.”
    (Production: Jorge Garcia)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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