On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) responded to President Donald Trump’s executive order on homelessness to make it easier for state and local governments to move the homeless into rehab centers by saying that it’s important that “we solve the problem by bringing folks indoors, where they have wraparound services, mental health services, addiction services, if that’s what they need, a roof over their head, of course, maybe other services to help them get on their feet and be successful. But we should never surrender our compassion and our humanity as we try to address real problems, as homelessness has been in California. So, any executive order that turns its back on humanity and compassion will be something that will, I don’t think, strike the right balance.”
Host Jake Tapper asked, “I wanted to get your thoughts on the executive order President Trump signed today that aims to make it easier for states and for cities to move homeless people off the streets and into rehabilitation centers. Homelessness is obviously a huge issue in California. There are more than 100,000 homeless people in your state. What’s your reaction to the executive order?”
Bonta answered, “There was a major Supreme Court case a few months ago that sort of changed the legal regime for how cities and local jurisdictions can relate to our homeless populations, the Grants Pass case. And I’ve always believed there needs to be an important balance where we continue to maintain our humanity and compassion, but also make sure that people aren’t on the streets threatening public safety and we remove the encampments but we don’t just push the problem away and move the problem, we solve the problem by bringing folks indoors, where they have wraparound services, mental health services, addiction services, if that’s what they need, a roof over their head, of course, maybe other services to help them get on their feet and be successful. But we should never surrender our compassion and our humanity as we try to address real problems, as homelessness has been in California. So, any executive order that turns its back on humanity and compassion will be something that will, I don’t think, strike the right balance.”
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