President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday tasking his secretary of protection, Pete Hegseth, with establishing “specialized units” in the National Guard that shall be “specifically trained and equipped to deal with public order issues” — the clearest signal but he intends to develop the US navy’s function in home regulation enforcement actions throughout the nation.
Under the newly signed order, Hegseth is charged with “ensuring that each State’s Army National Guard and Air National Guard are resourced, trained, organized, and available to assist Federal, State, and local law enforcement in quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate, as appropriate under law.”
It additionally orders Hegseth to “designate an appropriate number of each State’s trained National Guard members to be reasonably available for rapid mobilization for such purposes” and set up a standing “quick reaction reaction force that shall be “available for rapid nationwide deployment.”
This transfer follows a directive by Hegseth last week that approved members of the National Guard deployed in Washington, DC, to start carrying weapons.
National Guard members deployed to DC began carrying sidearms Sunday, a spokesperson for the Joint Task Force carrying out the mission told NCS. A launch from Joint Task Force – DC on Sunday stated Hegseth directed guard members to carry their assigned weapons. A US official instructed NCS on Monday that some troops will carry M4 rifles, as that’s their major weapon, whereas navy police, for instance, primarily use a M17 handgun.
Hegseth’s order marked a notable shift in steerage from the Pentagon, which had beforehand indicated that National Guard members might be armed if the circumstances warranted.
The protection secretary instructed reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that the National Guard is “really proud to be a part of defending the nation’s capital and ensuring it is safe and beautiful, and working with law enforcement,” including guard members deployed to the district “love this mission.”
On Monday, Trump advised he’d ask Congress to codify the motion increasing the National Guard’s remit, telling reporters in the Oval Office, “I think Democrats will actually vote for this.”
And he left the door open to deploying navy to different cities, akin to Chicago, telling reporters they’re “ready to go anywhere,” with “less than 24 hours’ notice.” However, he advised he’d wait till governors request National Guard troops earlier than ordering deployments to address crime.
“We may wait, we may or may not — we may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do,” Trump stated. “The problem is, it’s not nice when you go in and do it and somebody else is standing there saying, as we give great results, say, ‘Well, we don’t want the military.’ They need help badly — Chicago desperately needs help. Just look at the crime statistics.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, forcefully objected Sunday to the opportunity of Trump deploying the National Guard to Chicago — one thing the president has stated he’s strongly contemplating.
“It comes as no surprise Donald Trump is once again attacking Chicago, but that doesn’t change that Trump’s continuing pattern of politicizing and misusing our nation’s military for his own partisan gain and to crush dissent is deeply disturbing, is un-American and has no place in any of our cities,” Duckworth, a fight veteran and member of the Senate Armed Services, stated in a press release forward of Monday’s executive order signing.
National Guard troops on the DC mission are anticipated this week to start helping extra with the “beautification” piece of the mission. A US official instructed NCS on Monday that the guard is working by way of what tools shall be wanted and what websites they’ll help with, however duties are anticipated to embrace issues like portray over graffiti, choosing up trash, and eradicating driftwood from the Tidal Basin by the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial.
The executive order signed in March titled, “Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful,” directed a “coordinated beautification plan” for amenities, monuments, and parks in DC, the elimination of graffiti, and to “ensure the cleanliness of public spaces.”
For weeks, Trump has ramped up efforts to crack down on crime in Washington, DC, which has additionally included a federal takeover of town’s police division and elevated federal regulation enforcement presence. The president has repeatedly complained about rising crime in DC, however general crime numbers are lower this year than in 2024.
To help the DC National Guard, troops from the National Guards in West Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Ohio, Louisiana and Tennessee have been known as upon. Troops from the GOP-led states began arriving in the nation’s capital final week. As of Sunday morning, there have been 2,274 National Guardsmen on the mission, greater than 1,300 of them from supporting states.
In the week starting August 12, the primary full day the Trump administration had management of the Metropolitan Police Department, town noticed a moderate drop in reported crime — and a far bigger surge in arrests of immigrants, a NCS evaluation of presidency knowledge discovered.