Ranking Member Merkley: Trump Administration Weaponizing U.S. Park Police to Further Its Authoritarianism

Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley—the top Democrat overseeing funding for the National Park Service— today led U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to sound the alarm over President Trump’s proposed plans to turn the U.S. Park Police into a federal police force under his direct control for deployment across Washington, D.C. rather than following its mission of safeguarding national monuments and visitors.
The Senators launched their probe in response toa report fromThe Washington Post, which outlined the unprecedented and dangerous nature of Trump’s plans to transform the U.S. Park Police.
The Senators wrote to U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum,“The administration is on a deliberate hiring spree to exploit the U.S. Park Police’s jurisdiction and turn it into a tool of the President for him and his ideological extremists to impose their will on the streets of D.C.”
“Commandeering the U.S. Park Police is not an earnest effort to help protect the Lincoln Memorial or improve motorists’ safety on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway,”the Senators stated. “According to a strategy memo obtained byThe Washington Post, a goal for the force is to ‘establish the U.S. Park Police as the premier law enforcement agency in DC, capable of keeping DC safe regardless of inaction by MPD [Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia] or inaction by the DC City Council.’”
“There is no evidence of an uptick in crime on park service land or increased threats to national monuments – this haste in both a hiring spree and waiving of [critical testing and standards for new officers] are clear signs that the administration is hijacking this federal police force for its own authoritarian purposes. And the administration may seek other mechanisms (legal or otherwise) to further expand the U.S. Park Police, increasing this authoritarian threat,”the Senators strongly emphasized.
Merkley and the group of Senators concluded their inquiry by demanding the Trump Administration suspend its plans and swiftly answer urgent questions about its planned weaponization of the Park Police.
Previously, Merkley took to the floor of the U.S. Senate to speak directly to the American people andring the alarm bells about the Trump Administration’s authoritarian takeover of the country. He spoke for 22 hours 37 minutes—the third longest speech in Senate history.
Full text of the letter can be found by clickinghereand follows below:
Dear Secretary Burgum:
We are alarmed that the National Park Service is currently in the process of doubling the number of U.S. Park Police officers in Washington, D.C. with the goal of transforming it into a federal police force to be deployed across the city rather than following its mission of safeguarding national monuments, icons, and visitors.
The administration is on a deliberate hiring spree to exploit the U.S. Park Police’s jurisdiction and turn it into a tool of the President for him and his ideological extremists to impose their will on the streets of D.C. Commandeering the U.S. Park Police is not an earnest effort to help protect the Lincoln Memorial or improve motorists’ safety on the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. According to a strategy memo obtained byThe Washington Post, a goal for the force is to “establish the U.S. Park Police as the premier law enforcement agency in DC, capable of keeping DC safe regardless of inaction by MPD [Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia] or inaction by the DC City Council.”
In fact, the administration is in such a hurry to get these new officers on board that it is offering
$70,000 hiring bonuses and a promise of a “streamlined, virtual hiring process with quick turnaround”.There is no psychological testing or physical fitness testing. In fact, applicants are allowed to submit a “self-attestation” in place of an in-person physical fitness test, an affront to the gold standard of federal law enforcement hiring – and standards that MPD itself follows in its hiring practices.
There is no evidence of an uptick in crime on park service land or increased threats to national monuments – this haste in both a hiring spree and waiving of critical testing and standards are clear signs that the administration is hijacking this federal police force for its own authoritarian purposes. And the administration may seek other mechanisms (legal or otherwise) to further expand the U.S. Park Police, increasing this authoritarian threat.
Amassing what is effectively a new federal police force is yet another Trump administration effort to consolidate and centralize his power as he continues to intimidate protestors, threaten free speech, and desensitize Americans to military presence on the streets. Reshaping the U.S. Park Police into a police force with a mission to carry out the President’s policy priorities hands President Trump a cadre of his own armed officers with widespread jurisdiction at his fingertips.
Continuing to amass more armed forces – police and military – under direct control of President Trump in Washington D.C. is unprecedented and dangerous. We demand you suspend the hiring process and provide full and complete responses to the following questions no later than December 19, 2025:

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