Trump order pushes forcible hospitalization of homeless people [View all]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/07/24/trump-homeless-forced-hospitalization-executive-order/

Trump order pushes forcible hospitalization of homeless people
Trump’s executive order could increase hospitalization of homeless individuals with mental health and substance use disorders.
July 24, 2025 at 5:17 p.m. EDT
By David Ovalle

President Donald Trump has directed federal agencies to find ways to make it easier to forcibly hospitalize homeless people with mental illness and addiction for longer periods — an effort to fight what the administration calls “vagrancy” threatening the streets of U.S. cities.

An executive order signed Thursday pushes federal agencies to overturn state and federal legal precedent that limits how local and state governments can involuntarily commit people who pose a risk to themselves or others.

The order said shifting homeless people into long-term institutional settings will restore public order. “Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens,” Trump’s order said.

The impact of Trump’s executive order remains unclear because states set laws and handle the process of involuntary commitments. Critics warned that such a policy threatens returning the nation to a darker era when people were often unjustly locked away in mental health institutions, and does nothing to help people afford housing.

Critics say cash-strapped states will not have the space to keep more people detained. The executive order, however, says federal resources could ensure “detainees with serious mental illness are not released into the public” because of a lack of bed space in jails or hospitals.

The order also instructs agencies to prioritize funding for mental health and drug courts — and to not fund “harm reduction” programs that the administration said facilitate illegal drug use. It also called for agencies to prioritize funding states and cities that to the “maximum extent” enforce laws on open-air drug use, prohibitions on urban camping, loitering and squatting.

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https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/07/ending-crime-and-disorder-on-americas-streets/
ENDING CRIME AND DISORDER ON AMERICA’S STREETS

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Who is going to pay for their hospitalization? Medicaid?