President Donald Trump proved once again this week that he's not messing around when it comes to keeping American citizens safe from foreign and domestic threats.

According to Breitbart, President Trump made the bombshell announcement that he's considering "reopening insane asylums," adding that he believes we "can’t have these people walking around” and posing danger to other citizens. 

The news came via an interview regarding his aggressive crime crackdown in Washington D.C., where he's deployed National Guard troops to help local law enforcement put a dent in the city's crime spree.

He was asked by a Daily Caller reporter if he would "be open to the government reopening insane asylums for people with serious mental illness."

Trump responds

When asked if he would be open to the idea, Trump's reply was straight to the point, telling DC's Reagan Reese, "Yes, I would."

Trump elaborated on the issue, going into some of the history of such facilities and how they were once widely used across many states.

"Well, they used to have them, and you never saw people like we had, you know, they used to have them. And what happened is states like New York and California that had them, New York had a lot of them. They released them all into society because they couldn’t afford it," Trump said.

The president remarked about the high costs of running such institutions, arguing that the cost is really the only prohibitive factor.

"You know, it’s massively expensive. But we had, they were all over New York. I remember when I was growing up, Creedmoor. They had a place, Creedmoor, they had a lot of them, Bellevue, and they were closed by a certain governor,” Trump recalled.

"And I remember when they did, it was a long time ago, and I said they didn’t release these people? And they did. They released them into society, and that’s what you have. It’s a rough, it’s a rough situation."

President Trump floats reopening insane asylums for mentally ill. pic.twitter.com/DPdwsAmSqF

— Wall Street Mav (@WallStreetMav) September 1, 2025

Social media reacts

Users across social media had plenty to say about Trump's idea of possibly reopening insane asylums.

"They never should have closed but if they are opened again there needs to be very strict standards for care. And there must be follow up to make sure care remains kind, compassionate and consistent," one X user wrote.

Another X user wrote, "The mentally ill need to be institutionalized. Today they are simply thrown behind bars, let out, go to the streets, then do something to be put back inside. This is a step in the right direction."

It'll be interesting to see if the idea takes hold and if such institutions are ever reopened as they once were.