President Trump signed an executive order aiming to end “crime and disorder” on the nation’s streets.
“Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe,” the order says, adding that many of those who are on the streets are “addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both.”
“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order. Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens,” the order declares. “My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety.”
The order directs the Attorney General, alongside the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to seek the reversal of “judicial precedents and the termination of consent decrees that impede the United States’ policy of encouraging civil commitment of individuals with mental illness who pose risks to themselves or the public or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves in appropriate facilities for appropriate periods of time” and provide assistance to state and local-level governments for the “identification, adoption, and implementation of maximally flexible civil commitment, institutional treatment, and ‘step-down’ treatment standards that allow for the appropriate commitment and treatment of individuals with mental illness who pose a danger to others or are living on the streets and cannot care for themselves.”
Members of Trump’s Cabinet will further assess grant programs to be given to states in situations involving drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting.
The order builds upon other White House efforts, including beautifying Washington, D.C., and creating the National Center for Warrior Independence for homeless veterans.
