Liberal Enclave Fears DC Homeless Will Hop Border Amid Trump Crackdown

Officials from Montgomery County, Maryland, reportedly appear to be flustered over President Donald Trump’s crackdown on neighboring Washington D.C.’s homelessness and crime crises.

Democratic Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America, stated that “it’s not a question of if more homeless people will show up in Maryland shelters, but when,” WJLA reporter John Gonzalez said in a recent video he posted to X. Standing in front of a homeless encampment in Washington, D.C., Gonzalez explained that National Guard troops have already cleared “at least 70” similar sites, leaving the occupants either to take advantage of provided “shelter, addiction treatment, or health services,” or face jail time. (RELATED: DC Police Agree To Step Up ICE Cooperation After Trump Crackdown)

Elrich told WJLA, an ABC affiliate, that these alternatives offered to homeless people “could create a dangerous ripple effect in the DMV.” Gonzalez added that “the county’s largest shelter is already full,” while “drop-in centers and food programs are stretched thin.” According to Gonzalez, outreach teams are also tracking the number of homeless clients coming daily from the nation’s capital.

The county executive also told the local news channel that while Montgomery County will do “whatever it can to help,” he “is calling for the federal government to put up more funding.”

Montgomery County leaders say it’s not if — but when D.C.’s homeless crisis spills into Maryland.
With shelters already full, Trump’s encampment crackdown in the nation’s capital could send dozens across the border in search of food, shelter, and safety. @7NewsDC pic.twitter.com/CnoT0yPtoZ

— John Gonzalez (@John7News) August 14, 2025

Earl Stoddard, Montgomery County’s Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, raised the possibility that some people may “vote with their feet” amid Washingtons’ crime crisis. He pondered “whether they’re going to choose to leave the district itself and come to places like Montgomery County or Northern Virginia.”

Christine Hong, Montgomery County’s Chief of Services to End and Prevent Homelessness, said in the video that there is just “speculating at this point because there’s so much uncertainty about the plans coming from the federal government to move people out of the district and how they would do that.”

In reaction to numerous violent crimes committed in Washington, D.C., Trump deployed the National Guard to the city on Monday, using an executive order to declare a crime emergency in the city.

The DC Police Union announced on Monday that it backs Trump’s DC crackdown, while, on Thursday, even a CNN reporter admitted that the President’s efforts to reduce crime and homelessness are resulting in a cleaner Union Station.

Montgomery County is one of the most heavily Democratic in the nation. Failed Democratic nominee Kamala Harris carried the suburban county in the 2024 presidential election with 74% of the vote. The county is also among the top 30 most affluent in the nation, with a median household income of $129,000 — more than one and a half times the national median household income, according to Stanford Data Commons.

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