By Michael Woyton
In the wake of the budget bill that gives billionaires more money and takes away health care from millions of citizens, the administration of President Donald J. Felon is now going after people who are unhoused or who have mental health or substance abuse problems.
An executive order was signed Thursday by the golfer-in-chief “to expand indefinite forced treatment for people with mental health disabilities or substance use disorder, and those living on the street who ‘cannot care for themselves’.”
The American Civil Liberties Union in a statement said the order “purports to eliminate federal funding for evidence-based programs, like harm reduction and housing first, that save lives, and directs federal funds toward cities and states that criminalize substance use disorder, punish people for sleeping outdoors, or enforce other laws targeting unhoused people.”
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Included in the order, the ACLU said, is a call for “sweeping federal data collection on unhoused people and those with mental health disabilities.”
This raises serious concerns about privacy and surveillance and how the collected data could be used to justify further criminalization.
“Instead of funding services or support, the administration is prioritizing profiling and control,” the ACLU said.
Scout Katovich, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU, said that “[p]ushing people into locked institutions and forcing treatment won’t solve homelessness or support people with disabilities. The exact opposite is true – institutions are dangerous and deadly, and forced treatment doesn’t work. We need safe, decent, and affordable housing as well as equal access to medical care and voluntary, community-based mental health and evidence-based substance use treatment from trusted providers.”
She said, instead of investing in proven solutions, the president is blaming people for systemic failures and “doubling down on policies that punish people with nowhere else to go.”
The National Homelessness Law Center said the order will deprive people of their basic rights and make it harder to solve homelessness.
In a news release, the organization said the order has three main points. It:
1. Expands the use of police and institutionalization to respond to homelessness.
2. Prioritizes funding for states that treat homelessness as a crime and end housing-based solutions.
3. Cuts off funding for life-saving programs like harm-reduction.
The end result, combined with the new budget’s drastic cuts for housing and health care, will increase the number of people forced to live in tents, in their cars and on the streets, the center said.
The center said it will use every tool at its disposal to fight against making it a crime to be homeless and poor in America.
An article in a newsletter from Affordable Housing Finance points out that the EO directs the attorney general “to reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees that limit state and local governments’ ability to commit individuals on the streets who are a risk to themselves or others.”
Hmm.
AG Pam Bondi, who is more than willing to allow people to be picked up off the streets and sent a world away to another country without any court procedures involved, is going to allow someone who this government thinks might be a risk to themselves to be “institutionalized” indefinitely seemingly without any due process.
What could possibly go wrong?
Do you have a medical card that allows you to purchase prescription cannabis for a chronic illness? Does that make you an addict in the eyes of this government?
Were you laid off from a job that barely kept your bills paid and now you’ve been kicked out of your apartment and you haven’t found a new place to live yet that you can afford? Does that make you homeless and therefore someone who cannot care for themselves?
Hell, this government picked up a Pennsylvania grandfather who lost his green card and was trying to get it replaced, secretly deporting him to Guatemala and telling his family he was dead.
The convicted felon/adjudicated rapist/good friend of Jeffrey Epstein and the evil Stephen Miller want to get rid of people who don’t meet their standards for being an American.
This executive order seems to be another nail in the coffin of democracy in the United States.
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Lead art: Screen grab from whitehouse.gov
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