MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
President Trump is promising to sweep homeless people from American cities. One controversial part of his plan would force people off the streets into institutions where they would be made to undergo what Trump describes as, quote, "long-term," unquote, treatment for addiction and mental illness. NPR's Brian Mann covers addiction, and he's with us now to talk through this proposal. Good morning, Brian.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So Trump laid out this idea in an executive order. How would it work?
MANN: Yeah. So this process is called civil commitment, and it already happens now in the U.S. It can be a lifesaver for people in crisis. Judges can force people to accept medical care against their will. Most experts say this should only be used in really rare cases. Generally, people are then held and given that kind of medical care for the shortest amount of time possible. Trump's executive order, Michel, is different. It urges state and local governments around the U.S. to take this kind of action a lot more often and push homeless people into institutions long-term as a way clean up streets. Public health experts, people who study civil liberties I've been talking to are really alarmed by this. Anthony Michael Kreis is at Georgia State University's College of Law.
ANTHONY MICHAEL KREIS: We have personal autonomy that is constitutionally guaranteed that the state is not going to just put us away because we are a nuisance to them, but only when we really, truly pose a danger to ourselves or others.
MANN: Kreis and other experts fear a lot of homeless people who aren't dangerous. They're just poor and need medical care could be swept up and locked away.
MARTIN: Why does President Trump say this kind of forced institutionalization is necessary?
MANN: Yeah. So the federal government says there are more than a quarter million people living on the streets on any given day, and experts say that's caused by a really challenging mix of high housing costs, poverty, addiction and mental illness, but Trump frames this very differently. In a speech last month, he called Americans living on the streets drugged-out maniacs. He promised to get rid of them fast. And a growing number of conservative voices on the right have taken up this call for a crackdown on Fox News earlier this month, hosts Lawrence Jones and Brian Kilmeade said homeless people should be forced into treatment or even killed.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX & FRIENDS")
LAWRENCE JONES: You can't give them a choice. Either you take the resources that we're going to give you and - or you decide that you're going to be locked up in jail. That's the way it has to be now.
BRIAN KILMEADE: Or involuntary lethal injection...
JONES: Yeah.
KILMEADE: ...Or something. Just kill them.
MANN: Homeless advocates say that kind of language is really dangerous and dehumanizing, and I should say Kilmeade later apologized.
MARTIN: Yes. But, Brian, you know, there's no question that there have been some really frightening incidents involving homeless people who are struggling with mental illness. But overall, what are the facts here? Do homeless people commit a lot of violent crimes?
MANN: Yeah, unfortunately, there's not great current data on this. A lot of people living on the streets do have criminal records, generally for fairly low-level crimes and illegal drug use. When it comes to violent crime, Michel, research suggests people living on the streets are more often the victims rather than the perpetrators. But clearly, Trump has tapped into a serious public concern here. Homeless camps are perceived as a serious safety and quality of life problem. And cases of violence by mentally ill people, as you say, especially when caught on video, they've gotten a lot of media attention.
MARTIN: So if the president's idea goes forward, are there enough mental institutions and drug treatment clinics to care for these people?
MANN: Yeah, the short answer is no. Speaking on background with NPR, White House officials say they think this can be done without a big new federal investment, but experts don't agree. Later today, on All Things Considered, I'll report on an effort in Oregon to expand use of civil commitment. Critics say the price tag could spiral out of control.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Brian Mann. Brian, thank you so much.
MANN: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF JBM AND JUAN BAUTISTA MATIENZO'S "OPUS 96 'PLUS ULTRA'") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
