If you’re experiencing homelessness and need individual legal help or information about your rights in public space, you can contact the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless at 202-328-5500.

Amber Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, told The Washington Post, “Shelters have a two-bag maximum, so people might not want to go to a shelter if they don’t want to throw away their stuff that can’t fit into two bags.”

“There’s definitely a lot of chaos, fear and confusion,” said Amber Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, a nonprofit with hundreds of open cases. “It doesn’t help that the messaging from the federal government has been all over the place. And there’s no communication or coordination with the DC government.”

“We do not have enough shelter beds for everyone on the street,” said Amber W Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “This is a chaotic and scary time for all of us in DC, but particularly for people without homes.”

It was unclear how widespread or effective the raids were, after district officials and advocates had spent much of the day trying to clear the camps, urging people to go to shelters ahead of the raids.

What’s happening to encampments?

Amber W. Harding, executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, said she believes that “federal law enforcement will begin systematically rounding up and arresting unhoused people.” She believes officers would ask people to move on or would “offer shelter,” arresting people if they refused either directive.

President Trump wants unhoused people living in Washington D.C. to get off the streets and into shelters or out of the city altogether. But his administration has so far offered few details on how it will achieve this goal.

Without a detailed plan on tackling homelessness in the nation’s capital, advocates like Amber Harding, executive director of the nonprofit Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, worry the focus will be on criminalizing those who have nowhere to go.

Crucially, advocates point out, there are not enough shelter beds in the nation’s capital to accommodate all of the people who regularly sleep outside. According to a joint press release from the National Homelessness Law Center, the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, and Miriam’s Kitchen, there are currently just 40 shelter beds available and nearly 900 people who may need them.

“We believe at 6:30 p.m. federal law enforcement will begin systematically rounding up and arresting unhoused people on the street in D.C.,” Amber W. Harding, the executive director of the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, told Truthout in an email.

Amber Harding, with the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, questions the legality of forcing those experiencing homelessness into other areas. “We do not believe that any government entity has authority to mass remove U.S. citizens from the jurisdiction they call home,” she told WTOP.