Trump signs order making it easier to institutionalize homeless people

The executive order the president also asks Bondi to work with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Transportation to prioritize federal grants for states and cities that "enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering," the White House said. The order was first reported by USA Today.

"President Trump is delivering on his commitment to Make America Safe Again and end homelessness across America," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. "By removing vagrant criminals from our streets and redirecting resources toward substance abuse programs, the Trump administration will ensure that Americans feel safe in their own communities and that individuals suffering from addiction or mental health struggles are able to get the help they need."

In March, Mr. Trump called for Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser to "clean up all of the unsightly homeless encampments in the City, specifically including the ones outside of the State Department, and near the White House." He added that if she was "not capable of doing so, we will be forced to do it for her!" He signed an executive order directing the National Park Service to clear all homeless encampments on federal lands.

He also signed a separate executive order in March aiming to dismantle the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness.

The president pledged to remove homeless individuals from the nation's streets during his campaign.

"When I am back in the White House, we will use every tool, lever, and authority to get the homeless off our streets," Mr. Trump said in a spring 2023 campaign video.

The National Homelessness Law Center said the order "does nothing to lower the cost of housing or help people make ends meet."

"Forced treatment is unethical, ineffective, and illegal. People need stable housing and access to healthcare. Rather, Trump's actions will force more people into homelessness, divert taxpayer money away from people in need, and make it harder for local communities to solve homelessness," said spokesperson Jesse Rabinowitz.

First he came for the immigrants....

Then he came for the homeless...

It feels like we're sleepwalking into fascism.

I hope you all see where this is headed.

If not, then you need to open your eyes.

Yes and know. Yes this could be used repressively however there are very dangerous homeless people roaming the streets who are a menace to society as well as themselves.

They're going to institutionalize gay and trans like it's 1950 again.

R5 = future Kapo.

Sounds like a private prison/longterm care facility boondoggle to me.

I mean, they're planning on eliminating Medicaid and cutting back Medicare--oh, and trying to drive a stake through the heart of the ACA, all in the name of fiscal responsibility.

So where the fuck are they gonna get funds to pay for all those initiatives?

We are already well entrenched in fascism R3. Trump is an authoritarian dictator and the Trump administration is a fascist regime. See link.

It also feels like we (the gays) will soon feature somewhere on R2's list. We might not be next - but at some point they will target us and "clean us up".

[quote]So where the fuck are they gonna get funds to pay for all those initiatives?

They don't care about the deficit R8. Why not? Because the rich don't have to pay it and it doesn't affect them - the middle and lower classes are the ones who are ultimately saddled with it and the problems having such a large deficit brings. So Trump will just run up more deficit like he did for ICE and tax cuts for the uber rich.

[quote] Yes and know. Yes this could be used repressively however there are very dangerous homeless people roaming the streets who are a menace to society as well as themselves.

That's the same "reasoning" that Hitler used.

The same reasoning that Trump is using.

You can try to explain it away as much as you like, but the bottom line is that he is using all of these excuses as a means of rounding people up, and herding them into "camps," whether they are in Alligator Alcatraz, or internment camps.

He's starting off with groups that most people don't care about, but eventually, it'll expand to other groups that Trump finds objectionable.

Gays, POC, Journalists, Political Opponents, etc.

The dictator handbook starts off small, and then gradually expands.

[quote]Yes and know.

Oh, dear.

Spot on R11.

And let's not forget that a number of actual American citizens have been kidnapped off the streets by ICE thugs and imprisoned in ICE detention recently and it's going to ramp up because nobody has really said anything much about it. It didn't take long for that to happen...

Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if I did not make a stand at Step B, why should we at Step C?

And so on to Step D.

I posted R5 and own my know/no typo. I realise this can be a fascist move. However, we have been complaining for years that insane people shouldn't be on streets. I wouldn't trust the sorting mechanism - who is insane who is being controlled for other reasons - and I wouldn't trust the quasi-medical institutions in place to "rehouse" them. But there ARE too many insane homeless.

[quote] However, we have been complaining for years that insane people shouldn't be on streets. I wouldn't trust the sorting mechanism - who is insane who is being controlled for other reasons - and I wouldn't trust the quasi-medical institutions in place to "rehouse" them. But there ARE too many insane homeless.

And who created this situation?

REPUBLICANS!!!

FFS, this started with Ronald Reagan, and has continued for the past 40 years.

Republicans slashing funding for treatment of these individuals, Republicans creating the wealth gap, Republicans enabling insane real estate prices which cause even more homelessness, Republicans defunding social safety nets, and on and on and on.

This is all part of the fucking plan for them.

They caused the problem, and now they have "Final Solution" to the problem.

Republicans have a "Final Solution" to everything they consider to be problematic. And don't think for one second, that gays aren't included in that.

American cities were better when they enforced vagrancy laws and institutionalized insane people. Yes, they were all thrown into fetid jail cells and horrific snake pits, but the rest of society could walk the streets in safety.

Good.

[quote]I realise this can be a fascist move.

And you came back to double down on normalizing fascism. How very "centrist" of you. Wringing your hands and mopping you brow doesn't change that you're as fascist as Trump for justifying this on any grounds at all.

[quote]However, we have been complaining for years that insane people shouldn't be on streets.

Who the fuck is "WE?" Don't speak for everyone, you know nothing about any of us. I had a period in my life when I was nearly homeless myself so this particularly classist and rarified point of view is not even recognizable to me. Go fuck yourself with your blanket assumptions.

[quote]I wouldn't trust the sorting mechanism

Absolutely vile acknowledgment of the fascism your co-signing

[quote]- who is insane who is being controlled for other reasons -

And you're fine with that because homeless people scare you.

[quote]and I wouldn't trust the quasi-medical institutions in place to "rehouse" them.

So why are you defending this??

[quote]But there ARE too many insane homeless.

BECAUSE EVERY PROGRAM TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM HAS BEEN ELIMINATED TO THE ENTHUSIAST CHEERS OF AMORAL TECHNOCRATS LIKE YOU. Jesus Christ! And any suggestion to take a holistic approach is met with cries of "hOw WiLl wE pAy fOr iT" from you types too, yet you never question how we'll fund the latest concentration camp for today's latest target of hate.

We are so fucked and it!s entirely because of people like R5.

It doesn’t mention prisons or criminalization - but funding the establishment of rehabs and mental institutions right? If that’s the case I have no issue. I’ve been recommending exactly that for years. Closing down asylums was a huge mistake. They don’t have to be dingy torment camps. We’ve made a lot of progress in our understanding of and sympathy for mental health and addiction as a society. Of course, the Trump regime won’t seek to implement this in the most compassionate, well funded, and transparent way. But I can’t say I disagree with the premise.

[quote]However, we have been complaining for years that insane people shouldn't be on streets.

True.

[quote]Yes and know. Yes this could be used repressively however there are very dangerous homeless people roaming the streets who are a menace to society as well as themselves.

Agreed.

The problem of disturbed/disturbing and dangerous homeless people is very real in some cities. And it’s all kinds of complicated in terms of why the problem exists, and what approaches to it are more effective than others. And who’s an actual threat vs just smelly or unpleasant to look upon. And very complicated in terms of where do the disturbed-acting person’s fundamental rights end, and the rights of those who encounter the person begin?

But the absolute fucking LAST person you’d want proposing solutions, if you have any human decency, is Donald Trump.

I wish we would do something like China’s poverty elimination act - but that was so intense that 1,500 government workers died. They identified every single poor in the country and assigned a state worker to them, many of them ended up dying from health complications as they weren’t used to harsh and impoverished rural lifestyles. The national government will start levying harsh fines on local politicians, mayors, etc if homelessness is allowed to occur in their region. They also built out a massive wildlife ranger program and hired/trained tons of poors into it.

Long-term facilities are desperately needed for the mentally ill in NYC. Most mentally ill people take their medication and go about their lives or live well in group homes. However, there are many who stop taking medication, they decompensate, then end up in acute psychiatric units until they are taken to court and treatment over objection is granted. They're often referred to as frequent flyers and are well known to the staff. They are on these units for months and it is a hugely expensive process.

If it is determined that they should be sent to a long-term facility (based on the number of admission during the past year), it could take six-to-eight months for a bed to become available. Meanwhile, they are brought to court for retention when needed and they are basically imprisoned for months, costing several hundred dollars a day. Costs matter.

I don't care who gets something done on this issue. The situation needs to be rectified quickly for all involved. In the past 5 years more and more mentally ill are discharged to shelters because there's nowhere else to send them. They do not do well there for obvious reasons, stop treatment, stop medication and end up on the street again.

When it comes to hardcore druggies, I think 95% are beyond help and they just make everyone else's life miserable.

And the thing is, R11, it’s not just starting small, it’s starting with an easy target. A lot of people will agree that of course these “vulnerable” people need to be off the streets. It’s an easy sell to a large swath of the public.

"Yes this could be used repressively however there are very dangerous homeless people roaming the streets who are a menace to society as well as themselves."

Convicted felon/serial rapist/sexual pervert is a very dangerous menace to society and roaming the streets, but I don't see any you neo-Nazi Trump ass kissers doing a god damned thing about it.

I always thought the burden of proof, so to speak, was to determine if the person is a danger to him/herself or others.

It's not a hard and fast line, but it's not impossible to judge, either.

A lot of them need to be institutionalized instead of knocking out old ladies or lighting a match, after drenching in gasoline, sleeping subway passengers.

A reporter pointed out homeless persons camped near the White House during this morning's mini-presser; the mad king responded "we'll take care of it," and asked for the exact location. He is off to golf-related events in Scotland, so "who" will take care of it?

Oy.

Reminder that executive orders are NOT laws and this is at least as much for PR purposes as anything else. He's like the Red Queen screaming "Off with his head!" all the time.

Stop calling them Executive Orders and start calling them Royal Decrees.

Our entire healthcare system is in a slow motion collapse but sure, let’s further strain our limited resources with a mass influx of mentally ill patients.

Lol "patients." They'll be inmates and everyone knows it. Stop pretending. Stop enabling their theater.

We've come full circle: Reagan closed the Mental Institutions and put all these mentally ill folks back on the streets (one of whom tried to kill him); 25 years later Trump is trying to send the mentally back to facilities that no longer exist.

It was about time somebody did something about this public health crisis. Of course blue cities will find all kinds of excuses not to put the homeless away while wasting the billions of dollars earmarked for the problem.

The Harrisburg State Hospital is still there -- but it's so decrepit that they filmed the movie Girl Interrupted there.

A friend's bipolar mother spent a year there many years ago.

[quote]Of course blue cities will find all kinds of excuses not to put the homeless away while wasting the billions of dollars earmarked for the problem.

Put them away where, dipshit? The infrastructure to deal with these people in a capacity to treat (i.e., ethically) does not exist.

The concept is something many can get behind. The physical and mental stress of being homeless can make you insane - the lack of good sleep, the constant threat to your safety, not having adequate food.

I've said this 1000x times - if you're not mentally ill before you become homeless, it won't take long before you develop some symptoms. And then of course anyone would want to escape that through drink and drugs - if only just to get some GOOD SLEEP.

However, the execution of this by the Trump team is going to be horrifically cruel and a disaster. There is a middle ground - we don't have to have the same disease-ridden and unsanitary insane asylums like we did 40-50 years ago.

Something has to be done and I hope this opens the door for discussion - however, you can't trust Trump or his team to do anything honestly and with good intentions.

Double edged sword, maybe we can have him and Stephen Miller institutionalized?

Trump really does seem to think he is an absolute ruler or king where he just issues his decrees and the whole nation has to bend to his will.

Pack up the homeless and send them to Florida and Texas; one good turn deserves another.

Trump does a lot of this. Knows it’s an intractable and complex problem, but issues a meaningless Trump Decree to eradicate it and then blames The Dems for the problem still existing despite his decree.

First off, fuck the king.

Second off, there are simply not enough shelters around for these people.

Third, it will never cease to amaze me how "liberals" become NIMBY hypocrites on issues like this. Very few real liberals around anymore it seems. You can live seeing homeless people on yiur daily walk if it means their survival.

Anyway, if you haven't caught on by now, Trump wants to send the homeless, the mentally ill, immigrants, etc. to his concentration camps. If you cheer this, don't cry when you're labeled mentally ill and sent away next.

Put them away from the rest of us, asshole. Too difficult for you to understand?

That was meant for R38 who would love to keep the homeless exactly where they are.

R11 is getting the vapors. Be afraid of democrats. They are the ones who pioneered cancel culture, anti-free speech, nonsense leftism

[quote] Second off, there are simply not enough shelters around for these people.

Well, let's see. Los Angeles has already spent 1.3 billion on the homeless problem. California has spent 24 billion dollars on the homeless problems since 2019. Do you think perhaps some of that money could have been used to build shelters? 24 billion dollars!

I'm r39 - and why I like to feel I approach the homeless problem with compassion, the reality is people need to be forced off the streets for their own good and for the benefit of society.

And we need to acknowledge the difference between those who cannot afford housing due to high costs and those who have dropped out of society due to mental illness and drug addiction or both.

We can do this - we can take care of people. I'm tired of the excuses saying we can't. However - many of the mentally ill and drug-addicted need to be forced off the streets - they will not go voluntarily as they've convinced themselves this is how they want to live and/or they've developed relationships with others on the street that keep them there.

I want Dems to take a harder stance on a lot of these issues - practical, pragmatic approaches - to immigration, homeless, housing crisis. Not a throw your hands in the air and 'what can you do' stuff.

Of course Republicans would block ANYTHING Dems do no matter what.

[quote] They identified every single poor in the country and assigned a state worker to them, many of them ended up dying from health complications as they weren’t used to harsh and impoverished rural lifestyles. The national government will start levying harsh fines on local politicians, mayors, etc if homelessness is allowed to occur in their region. They also built out a massive wildlife ranger program and hired/trained tons of poors into it.

Yeah, in the United States, we have these little things called "rights," guaranteed to us by this little thing called The Constitution.

Everyone in Manhattan should and would cheer for this.

We're not supposed to trust the Republicans...but we're supposed to trust the Democrats?

Reagan: CLOSE THE INSTITUTIONS!

FATFUCK: OPEN THE INSTITUTIONS AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE CASH COWS!

There's not going to be money for real institutions. There aren't enough shelters in many cities either.

Institutionalize = send to the camps. You'll see. And when those get crowded, well, a couple of the camps can be converted into death camps. This is all predictable.

Start with groups people hate, then keep adding more.