President Donald Trump reiterated Tuesday that he has signed an executive order to revive mental institutions and asylums, arguing that decades of closures have contributed to homelessness and public disorder by leaving severely mentally ill individuals on the streets.
Speaking during a press briefing highlighting his administration’s recent actions, Trump framed the choice as a necessary step to address public safety and mental health crises across the country.
“[I] signed an executive order to bring back mental institutions and insane asylums,” Trump said. “We’re going to have to bring them back. Hate to build those suckers, but you’ve got to get the people off the streets.”
Trump reflected on his upbringing in Queens, New York, recalling a large psychiatric facility known as Creedmoor, where he said people with severe mental illness were once housed.
“I remember asking my mother why there were bars on the windows,” Trump said. “She said, ‘People that are very sick are in that building.’ I’ll never forget it.”
He went on to argue that the widespread closure of such facilities — particularly in Democratic-led states — has had lasting consequences.
“I don’t know if it’s still there, because they got rid of most of them,” Trump said. “The Democrats in New York, they took them down, and the people live on the streets now. That’s why you have a lot of the people in California and other places, they live in the streets.”
The executive order appears to revive a long-standing policy position Trump has expressed regarding institutional care for individuals with serious mental illness. In an August 2025 interview with Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese, Trump said he was open to reopening asylums, pointing to the mass deinstitutionalization that occurred in the late 20th century.
“They used to have them, and you never saw people like we have now,” Trump said at the time. “States like New York and California had them, and they released them all into society because they couldn’t afford it. It’s massively expensive. But they were all over New York.”
While the White House has not yet released detailed guidance on how the executive order will be implemented, Trump’s remarks suggest the administration intends to work with states to expand or rebuild long-term psychiatric facilities. Supporters of the idea argue that institutional care is necessary for individuals who are unable to care for themselves, while critics warn of the historical abuses associated with asylums.
The announcement comes as cities across the country continue to grapple with rising homelessness, public drug use, and mental health crises, issues Trump has repeatedly tied to decades of failed policies.
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We’d better build a pot-load of ’em. They’ll be filling up as quickly as they can be constructed!