A joint effort with the Justice Department creates new authority to compel veterans into institutional or involuntary care.

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a new effort to initiate legal guardianships for homeless veterans, which could be used to force more of them into involuntary or institutional care.

The new system, carried out in partnership with the Justice Department, will invest Veterans Affairs Department attorneys with expanded powers that would allow them to initiate and take part in guardianship proceedings for veterans who have no family and are “unable to make their own health care decisions.”

The initiative represents the Trump administration’s most concrete action to advance its goal of compelling more homeless people into involuntary treatment for mental illness and drug addiction.