Trump expands National Guard role in policing

Members of the National Guard are seen at Union Station on August 24, 2025, in Washington D.C.

(Image credit: Yasin Ozturk / Anadolu / Getty Images)

What happened

President Donald Trump Monday ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to create a new "specialized" National Guard unit "dedicated to ensuring public safety and order" in Washington, D.C., and to ensure that every state's Guard is prepared to take a larger role in domestic law enforcement, including "quelling civil disturbances." Trump also called for a standing National Guard "quick reaction force" that could deploy anywhere in the U.S. on short notice.

Who said what

Creating these new National Guard units is the "clearest sign yet" that Trump intends to "expand the U.S. military's role in domestic law enforcement activities across the country," potentially for "political purposes," said CNN. The expansion of military policing comes as Trump "threatens to broaden deployments of the National Guard in cities run by his political enemies," starting with Chicago, The New York Times said.

Using the National Guard as police in states that don't want such deployments is "illegal," "unconstitutional," "un-American" and "exactly the type of overreach that our country’s founders warned against," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said Monday. "If it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm."

What next?

Asked about his suggestion that he would send troops to Chicago, Trump "hedged," the Times said. "We may wait," he told reporters. "We may or may not, we may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do." The Pentagon said it was "reviewing" Trump's orders and "specific requirements" and "will provide updates or announcements as appropriate."

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.