1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I’m writing to urgently oppose President Trump’s recent Executive Order that calls for the forced removal of homeless individuals from encampments and involuntary hospitalization of people dealing with mental illness or substance use disorders. This order is not only cruel—it’s unconstitutional and undermines basic human rights. As highlighted by PBS NewsHour, the order allows states to clear encampments and commit people without their consent to treatment facilities, even when no crime has been committed. It also threatens to withdraw funding from communities that refuse to comply. These actions criminalize poverty and illness and ignore the due process protections that every American is entitled to. Rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness—like a lack of affordable housing, accessible mental health care, and economic instability—this order revives harmful, outdated approaches that have already proven ineffective. Sweeps and forced institutionalization don’t solve homelessness; they often make it worse by causing people to lose medications, ID documents, and their trust in outreach services. It’s especially concerning that the order attempts to roll back legal protections and previous court rulings that prohibit the arrest or removal of unhoused people when no alternative shelter is available. These are not policy reforms—they are violations of civil liberties. We know what works. Programs like Housing First and voluntary mental health and addiction support services have repeatedly shown better outcomes at lower cost. Trump’s order instead prioritizes punishment and force over evidence-based, compassionate care. Homelessness is not a crime. Mental illness and addiction are not moral failures. This order treats vulnerable people as threats to be hidden, rather than human beings deserving of dignity and help. I urge you to do the following: • Publicly denounce this executive order. • Introduce or support legislation to block its implementation. • Protect due process and bodily autonomy for all people, regardless of housing status. • Reinforce funding for proven solutions like Housing First, affordable housing, and community-based care. This executive action amounts to a broad violation of human rights and should be stopped before it causes irreversible harm. We must not return to a time when poverty and mental illness were treated as crimes. We need solutions rooted in justice, not cruelty. Thank you for your leadership and attention to this critical issue.