Executive order makes removal of homeless people easier, what this means for Vegas

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order making it easier for towns and cities to remove unhoused people from the streets.

That order gives Attorney General Pam Bondi the authority to reverse rules that limit municipalities' abilities to relocate these individuals.

The executive order redirects federal resources to transfer them to facilities for mental health and substance abuse treatment.

It's part of what the White House says is "an initiative to end crime and disorder on America's Streets," which is the name of the executive order.

The Vegas Stronger team is keeping busy working to get homeless people off the streets throughout the Silver State, including the 8,000 unhoused individuals in Southern Nevada.

The nonprofit provides mental health and substance abuse treatments to get people into housing and to help them find jobs.

CEO and founder Dave Marlon says in the last 12 months, they've treated 2,500 people.

"Last year, 94% of the clients that we did homeless interventions on, 94% of them had a substance use disorder," said Marlon.

That's why he says he is in favor of President Trump's executive order that allows cities and counties to put homeless individuals into treatment facilities.

"I do think more incentive to get people off our streets, and or into treatment is a good thing. Let's help them," said Marlon. "It's not safe, it's not appropriate."

But he says the resources need to be there to make it work, citing recent cuts to Medicaid that make enforcement of the order more difficult.

"The people who have mental health disorders, the people who have substance use disorders, they shouldn't be on the streets, and we need to get them out," said Marlon. "If you're at the same time, you're cutting the coverage for this and saying, everybody needs to get help, something's got to give."

Athar Haseebullah, the executive director of the ACLU of Nevada, however, is not in favor of the order.

"What this would effectively allow is for the encouragement of local government to actually engage in civil commitment processes which place people in mental health facilities without their consent," said Haseebullah. "It will require evaluations of folks who are unhoused, and potentially allow for their confinement in a more expanded way."

He believes the order will add to the issue of homelessness locally and nationwide, saying housing costs are what need to be addressed.

"This sort of correlation, where they're attempting to suggest that folks who are unhoused are somehow dangerous, when instead of recognizing that they're unhoused because they are poor, is quite problematic," he said.

Haseebullah believes the order will expand policing powers.

"They've also made it less clear as to how they're going to actually handle any of the treatments that they've discussed here. Right?" said Haseebullah. "We don't have an unlimited number of beds for people to be institutionalized."

Henderson Police said in a statement that once it receives the executive order, it will be reviewed by our command staff.

Metro Police said in its statement: "LVMPD will work with our county and city partners to best address President Trump’s executive order."

And a Clark County spokesperson said, "We are working on analyzing the EO and trying to gather more details. "

That money will go to states and municipalities that crack down on illegal drug use, camping, and loitering, and track the location of sex offenders.