WASHINGTON — “What can the president do to help recruitment of police officers? He’s done well with the military and border patrol. What can be done for police officers patrolling the streets of America?”
That was the question put to the White House during an Aug. 28 press conference, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt pointed to the successes in federal law enforcement recruiting, noting that an ICE recruitment campaign brought in 130,000 applicants, bringing in more applicants than there are jobs to fill.
“Clearly Americans want to serve their communities,” Leavitt said. “They just need a leader who encourages them to do so. So maybe [Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker] should spend less time demonizing police and more time to recruit more police.”
Pritzker has been vocal about keeping National Guard troops out of Chicago after President Donald Trump proposed a deployment similar the one in Los Angeles.
“To the public servants who have forsaken their oath to the Constitution to serve the petty whims of an arrogant little man, to any federal official who would come to Chicago and try to incite my people into violence as a pretext for something darker and more dangerous: We are watching, and we are taking names,” Pritzker said in an Aug. 25 speech.
“The president wants to allow law enforcement, whether it’s state, local [or] federal, to do their jobs, to put criminals behind bars and to remove public safety threats from American communities. He’ll continue to do that.”
While Leavitt did not outline new federal initiatives to aid state or local recruitment, the administration has previously pointed to steps it says support law enforcement. Earlier in 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at boosting resources for police, including increasing officer pay, expanding training and protections, and providing greater access to surplus military equipment.
