President Trump’s new executive order to combat homelessness encourages local governments to revive civil commitment, a process to place people with mental health issues in treatment facilities without their consent.
Why it matters: Involuntary civil commitment has historically been used as a preventative method to confine people before they harm themselves or others, and most frequently affects vulnerable groups such as LGBTQ+, people of color and people with disabilities, according to several studies.
Context: The order Trump signed Thursday calls for shifting homeless individuals into “long-term” institutions for “humane treatment” which the administration says will “restore public order.”
Cool. Just one more thing to be worried about from a failed system. I’m guessing “humane treatment” doesn’t include access to the outside world.
Another boon for private prison systems, and another way to incarcerate people that Republicans don’t like, now without even needing to manufacture a crime; just define LGBT+ and non-conservative as mentally unsound and go ham.
The way education has gone downhill such that pattern recognition is a rare trait, “First they came for” simply isn’t on the radar. You don’t build up these systems, get all the migrants out and then say “sorry about the food supply, but you’ll be happy to know we’re shutting these facilities.”
