An
executive order that Trump signed in July 2025 has
effectively made it a crime to have a mental illness, struggle with substance use, or be unhoused. And the punishment for those crimes could be both
forced institutionalization without consent, and loss of privacy rights over
sensitive health data.Sign the petition to demand that each U.S. state refuse to comply with this harrowing and deeply disturbing executive order.The U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH) estimated that
around 60 million people in the U.S. received mental health treatment or were living with a mental health condition in 2022. That was approximately 18% of the country's population. More than 50 million people are housing- or food-insecure - and while these populations sometimes overlap, they often
don't. As the population grows and we all feel the increased pressure from political and economic systems, that number has almost certainly grown.
That means
this sweeping executive order could potentially impact tens of millions of people and their families. Experts and non-profits are already sounding the alarm about how this could be
laying the groundwork to criminalize and round up other groups of people too - such as trans youth or parents supportive of their trans kids.
How much worse will this get? Who else will be impacted next? How much will this escalate and intensify?It's also very clearly designed to focus on
gaining access to private health information. The executive order would give Attorney General Pam Bondi the
authority to demand that nonprofits hand over this sensitive data - and even
demand that they share this with law enforcement agencies such as police, the Department of Homeland Security, or ICE.
And it doesn't end with federal data collection, surveillance, and privacy infringements. The order
cuts funding for evidence-based programs that help people who are struggling with their mental health or substance use, including harm-reduction programs. It also comes in the wake of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" Act, which cut $1 trillion in Medicaid, leading to the closure of free health clinics, food banks, and homeless shelters, especially in rural areas. So at the same time that Congress has been cutting helpful resources, Trump is attempting to get the government to reroute that money towards criminalization and forced institutionalization instead, stripping people of their rights and the assistance they need.
People need to be helped and supported - not criminalized, and certainly not spied on as their health data is scraped up for government databases. We need all 50 states to stand up for their people's rights to privacy, autonomy, and consent to treatment. Sign the petition to demand all 50 states oppose Trump's draconian new executive order!