The White House is taking measures to reduce crime and improve national security in more than one way.
For example, the Trump administration has continued to build the border wall, with large swathes of the wall becoming reportedly “militarized.”
However, President Donald Trump is also taking other steps to promote national security by eliminating many of the “root causes” resulting in so many problems at the border in the first place – notably the lucrative drug trade, which continues to enrich cartels while ravaging American communities.
Little wonder that Trump has recently issued a new executive order – “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets” – that directly targets the epidemic of drug addiction in the United States.
The executive order details all the ways in which the societal scourge has contributed to widespread vagrancy, which has increased dramatically in recent years.
“Endemic vagrancy, disorderly behavior, sudden confrontations, and violent attacks have made our cities unsafe. The number of individuals living on the streets in the United States on a single night during the last year of the previous administration …was the highest ever recorded,” the executive order noted.
Not surprising at all. The previous administration also oversaw an enormous increase in drug overdoses, which were especially notorious during the pandemic.
And drugs can unfortunately exacerbate existing mental health issues … which is why many homeless individuals usually struggle with both challenges, asnoted in the executive order.
“The overwhelming majority of these individuals are addicted to drugs, have a mental health condition, or both. Nearly two-thirds of homeless individuals report having regularly used hard drugs like methamphetamines, cocaine, or opioids in their lifetimes,” the executive order continued.
In other words, the drugs that are frequently trafficked across the border, for the sheer purpose of wreaking havoc across American communities.
Even worse, government investments do not appear to help at all.
“The Federal Government and the States have spent tens of billions of dollars on failed programs that address homelessness but not its root causes, leaving other citizens vulnerable to public safety threats,” the executive order continued.
Yup. The Tenderloin District in San Francisco is a prime example of that one.
Which is why the Trump administration is proposing a new method for addressing rampant drug abuse across the nation’s streets.
“Shifting homeless individuals into long-term institutional settings for humane treatment through the appropriate use of civil commitment will restore public order. Surrendering our cities and citizens to disorder and fear is neither compassionate to the homeless nor other citizens. My Administration will take a new approach focused on protecting public safety,” the executive order noted.
Definitely a “new approach,” that’s for sure.
“President Trump is delivering on his commitment to Make America Safe Again and end homelessness across America,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt affirmed.
And, in doing so, Trump will clearly take direct aim at none other than California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Indeed, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) admitted that California is a veritable epicenter of homelessness, which is unsurprising considering the state’s rather libertine attitude towards criminality.
“Of the nation’s 771,500 people experiencing homelessness, over 187,000 (24%) were in California,” the PPIC detailed.
Well, zero-bail policies and perennial sunshine likely play a strong role in that particular statistic. Though that statistic may decrease in the future, courtesy of the new excutive order.
California has already experienced federal intervention in Los Angeles due to its anti-ICE protests, so it will be quite interesting to see whether or not additional federal forces are deployed to enforce one of Trump’s most recent executive orders.
If so, such intervention may well serve as a blueprint in the future.
Author: Ofelia Thornton
