NEW: Trump to sign order pushing cities to REMOVE homeless people from the streets
The bill will “reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees” that place limits on if cities can remove the homeless from sidewalks and city street encampments.
President Donald Trump is reportedly set to sign an executive order dubbed “Ending Vagrancy and Restoring Order,” which will “reverse judicial precedents and end consent decrees” that place limits on cities and states from removing those who are homeless from sidewalks and city street encampments and moving them to treatment centers.
The order, reported on by USA Today, will also require that Attorney General Pam Bondi will work with the secretaries of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation to prioritize cities across the nation for funding that “enforce prohibitions on open illicit drug use, urban camping and loitering, and urban squatting, and track the location of sex offenders.”
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to USA Today that Trump is “delivering on his commitment to Make America Safe Again and end homelessness across America.”
“By removing vagrant criminals from our streets and redirecting resources toward substance abuse programs, the Trump Administration will ensure that Americans feel safe in their own communities and that individuals suffering from addiction or mental health struggles are able to get the help they need,” Leavitt added.
The order from Trump will come after the Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that people sleeping in public spaces can be arrested as well as fined. The ruling overturned a lower court ruling which had said that placing bans on public camping for those who are homeless was cruel and unusual punishment. The decision was made 6 to 3, and upheld a ban in Grant Pass, Oregon which prohibited the homeless from sleeping on public property outdoors.
Fines for the Oregon city start at $250 and jail time can also come to those who repeatedly break the law.
Trump has pointed to Washington, DC before as an example of where homeless people have crowded public spaces, and said in a campaign video from 2023, “We will use every tool, lever, and authority to get the homeless off our streets. We want to take care of them, but they have to be off our streets.”