Trump orders ‘specialized’ National Guard units to enforce ‘public safety and order’ in US cities News
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Trump orders ‘specialized’ National Guard units to enforce ‘public safety and order’ in US cities

US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday establishing a “specialized unit” of the National Guard to address crime in Washington, DC and other US cities “whenever the circumstances necessitate,” including “other cities where public safety and order has been lost.”

The order enables US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to deploy the National Guard, subject to Title 32 of the US Code, for “quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order.” Hegseth will have the ability to outfit the National Guard to be “resourced, trained, organized, and available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement.”

Under Title 32, the National Guard can be deployed around the US for reasons similar to those outlined in the executive order, usually at the request of state governors during emergencies. It is not immediately clear what specialized units created by the executive order aim to do that is different from what the National Guard can already do.

The order also allows the National Guard, the US Park Police in the District of Columbia, and the US Attorney for the District of Columbia to hire additional personnel to support efforts to reduce crime in the District. “It charges, for example, the Secretary of Defense with establishing specialized units in the DC National Guard and National Guard units around the country specifically trained and equipped to deal with public order issues,” Trump said at a press conference Monday where he signed the order:

It charges federal law enforcement agencies with hiring additional personnel to allow them to surge personnel to Washington DC to deal with the current emergency. It does a number of other things which asks the Attorney Gneeral to look at DC Metropolitan Police orders that currently impeded law enforcement efforts in the city and look at unwinding those that are stopping the police form doing their job effectively.

This order continues Trump’s effort to take federal control over DC’s police force. Trump issued an executive order on August 11 that invoked emergency powers to place Washington, DC’s police force under federal control. The order faced potential constitutional challenges as such actions required “special conditions of emergency nature,” rather than general public safety concerns.

Trump’s concern for the safety of Washington, DC, fueling the flurry of executive orders, does not match crime statistics for the city, which have trended downward since 2023. Shortly before Trump took office, violent crime had reached a 30-year low in the US Capitol.

The executive orders raise concerns that the Trump administration is targeting Democrat-run cities around the country, including Washington, for political purposes. During the press conference on Monday, Trump railed against other “left-wing states in America,” including Illinois. “I love that state, the great state, but it’s run so badly,” he said while addressing the state’s cashless bail policies.

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