During a White House press briefing this week, Donald Trump said he signed an executive order he described as an effort to “bring back mental institutions and insane asylums” in the United States. He framed the move as part of his administration’s approach to crime, homelessness, and public safety, arguing it’s necessary to “get the people off the streets.”
While recapping his upbringing in Queens, he pointed to a large psychiatric facility he remembered seeing as a child—Creedmoor Psychiatric Center—noting the bars on its windows. He suggested that the closure of similar institutions over the years has contributed to a larger number of people living on the streets.
The comments came amid a wide-ranging briefing in which he highlighted various policies and claimed successes. When discussing the order, he said: “Signed an executive order to bring back mental institutions and insane asylums; 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.” He again referenced Creedmoor and said many facilities like it had been dismantled.
The order he cited is broadly understood as a July 2025 executive action directing federal agencies to encourage the use of long-term institutional settings for unhoused people with severe mental illness or substance use disorders, while also expanding legal pathways for involuntary treatment. Civil rights organizations warned at the time that such a shift could reverse decades of legal standards and weaken core protections, arguing it risks criminalizing homelessness and prioritizing involuntary institutionalization over community-based support.
That tension sits on top of a long and fraught U.S. history with psychiatric institutions. Large state-run hospitals were once widespread, but deinstitutionalization accelerated in the mid-20th century—driven in part by the introduction of antipsychotic medications, changes in federal funding incentives, and evolving legal standards. Over time, policymakers moved away from long-term hospitalization and toward community-based services. Between 1955 and 2005, the number of beds in state and county psychiatric hospitals fell by more than 90 percent. Federal Medicaid rules that limited reimbursement for care in larger institutions also reinforced the trend, along with court decisions emphasizing integration for people with disabilities.
Creedmoor mirrors that broader trajectory. Opened in the early 20th century on a site in Queens, it housed thousands of inpatients at its peak. Admissions declined beginning in the 1960s as medications and policy changes reshaped the system, and parts of the campus were later repurposed or sold. By the early 2000s, sections of the property had been redeveloped for other community uses, though some mental health services continued on a smaller scale.
For years, clinicians, policymakers, and advocates have debated how best to support people with serious mental illness—especially those without stable housing. Many experts point to community-based treatment and approaches such as Housing First, which aim to stabilize housing and services without making treatment compliance a precondition. Critics of the executive order argue that prioritizing institutions and broadening involuntary commitment could erode civil liberties and undercut protections affirmed in cases like Olmstead v. L.C., in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that unjustified segregation of people with disabilities violates federal disability rights law.
