Newsom seen cleaning out LA homeless camps after years of policy failures
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell calls out the California governor for "seeking attention" and that he could have addressed homelessness years ago.
Long Beach, California, will begin fining and potentially arresting homeless people to combat its most "problematic" encampments, city officials said.
The decision comes after the Supreme Court ruled, 6-3, that cities can ban people from sleeping and camping in public places and arrest them – even in the absence of public shelters – overturning lower court rulings that deemed the practice cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment if the person had nowhere else to sleep.
Following the highest court's June decision, Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a directive ordering state officials to take down homeless encampments. Earlier this month, Newsom took to the streets to clean garbage left by homeless encampments.
Now, Long Beach is the latest municipality to announce its intention to follow that order.
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A notice of impending enforcement of encampment removal, required by law 72 hours before removal, is in a trash can as police keep an eye on city workers in Long Beach, Calif., enforcing new policies regarding homeless camps at Gumbiner Park on Aug. 19, 2024. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
"This enforcement mechanism will be used as an additional tool when appropriate, while continuing to apply a human-centered approach to addressing homelessness," Long Beach Deputy City Manager Teresa Chandler announced in a memo last week.
City officials said they plan to target encampments that pose a public threat or block access to libraries, beaches and parks, according to the memo. It will also identify encampments where people have repeatedly declined to accept offers for shelter.
Public works teams for the city have responded to 3,200 encampments in the last year, according to the memo. But city officials did not disclose the cost of citations or the amount of jail time those who ignore citations could face.
As police look on, a homeless man confronts city workers in Long Beach enforcing new policies regarding homeless camps at Gumbiner Park on Aug. 19, 2024. (Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
On Thursday, Los Angeles sanitation workers followed suit at Dockweiler State Beach, according to the California Globe, ignoring County Supervisors' public opposition to the order.
California legal experts interviewed by Fox News Digital are hopeful but were unconvinced that the new executive order will make a difference.
"The idea [that] they're going to jail people for being homeless is laughable," criminal attorney David Wohl said. "In L.A. county where those jails are located, I've had clients sentenced on felony cases to 120 days in jail, and they are released the next day."
"The crowding in L.A. county jails is so increased that no one will be jailed for homelessness," he continued.
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The Los Angeles Police Department oversees the dismantling of a homeless encampment near the Venice Beach boardwalk in Venice, Calif., on Aug. 5, 2024. Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an order directing state agencies to remove homeless encampments, signaling a crackdown in the state with the largest population of unhoused residents. (Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Moreover, he said, "[W]hen those fines aren't paid, what are you going to do?"
Civil rights attorney Leo Terrell questioned Newsom's motive in issuing the executive order.
"I’m old enough to remember that Gavin Newsom had a plan to deal with homelessness; that was in 2008," he told Fox News Digital. "Why now? Is it [because it's an] election year?"
Terrell also recalled Newsom's invitation to California for the world's homeless population in 2021, when he pledged to house and feed them all, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
"Long Beach, congratulations," Terrell said. "You’re about 10 years late. Whatever is motivating you, the governor’s executive order or the Supreme Court rulings, I don’t care. I wish that everywhere in California followed that ruling."
Much of Long Beach's success, he said, will hinge on whether police and judges are willing to arrest and punish the homeless, respectively.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and California Department of Transportation workers clean up an encampment site near Paxton Street and Remick Avenue in Los Angeles on Aug. 8, 2024. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
"Will the city prosecutor prosecute these cases? It might be a catch-22," he said. "Will they be prosecuted for the crime? Will they be in jail? A lot of people get a citation, they don’t show up.
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"Will the city attorney of Long Beach put in the resources to keep those areas clean? More importantly, will the city attorney and city council give the green light to the Long Beach Police Department and say, ‘You guys have our permission to keep those areas clean 24/7.'"
Fox News Digital reached out to Long Beach police, the city attorney, city prosecutor, Los Angeles County district attorney and Newsom's office for comment.
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