Armed National Guard troops patrol the Washington Monument at sunset as the Capitol stands in the background, in Washington, D.C., U.S., on August 26, 2025 Image: Allison Bailey/NurPhoto/Shutterstock
President Trump has signed an executive order directing federal agencies to expand law enforcement numbers in Washington DC and to work more closely with National Guard troops he called up to the nation’s capitol in recent days, and that he wants to see evolve into a new Guard unit with a domestic law enforcement mission.
The order directs the National Park Service to hire more Park Police in DC and instructs the US Attorney’s Office to bring on additional prosecutors focused on violent and property crimes. If the effort proves lasting, federal employees in law enforcement could see expanded hiring, redeployment of resources, and potentially new assignments tied directly to restoring “public order” in the capital.
The order follows another one in which Trump called up National Guard troops to patrol Washington DC – under section 740 of the DC Home Rule Act – in response to what he characterized as a “crime emergency.” He has so far pointed out conditions in other blue-state cities such as Chicago and New York he says are in need of a new quick reaction force for public safety and to quell “civil disturbances.”
The controversial move calls on the Pentagon to create a unit with the DC Guard that could be deputized by the Justice, Homeland Security or Interior Departments to enforce federal law, raising questions about the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement. Legal challenges would be inevitable and Trump hedged a bit this week by saying he would “like to be asked, as opposed to just going in and doing it.” A federal judge in California issued a decision this week saying Trump’s related deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles did violate Posse Comitatus, giving the Justice Department until Sept 12 to appeal. Trump has since said “we’re going in” in regard to Chicago and Baltimore.
According to Trump’s order, the DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force is to set up a website to recruit Americans with law enforcement or military backgrounds to join federal law enforcement entities. The initiative could create pathways for retired or off-duty officers, reservists, and federal employees in related roles to be quickly brought into specialized units.
“Each law enforcement agency that is a member of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force, as well as other relevant components of the Department of Justice as the Attorney General determines, shall further, subject to the availability of appropriations and applicable law, immediately create and begin training, manning, hiring, and equipping a specialized unit that is dedicated to ensuring public safety and order in the Nation’s capital that can be deployed whenever the circumstances necessitate, and that could be deployed, subject to applicable law, in other cities where public safety and order has been lost.”
It’s not yet clear what funds would be immediately available for new hiring and training of federal employees, although DHS has been one of the few major departments to see increases compared to deep cuts elsewhere. Some $170B was included in the massive tax and spending bill signed in July for immigration and border enforcement, which entails overlapping missions with several law enforcement agencies. The nation’s primary federal law enforcement training center has prioritized ICE training – pushing other scheduled training into 2026 – amid a surge in hiring for that agency, with DHS offering up to $50K bonuses and an age limit waiver to “patriotic Americans” that want to sign up.
That said, the Park Service could use the help after shedding personnel this year. Joining DC troops are deployments from West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee – that have been reportedly tasked with picking up trash and spreading mulch and other “restoration” tasks the agency has been undermanned for of late.
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