Mr. President, deputize your local sheriffs

As President Trump prepares for his second term, one crucial question on people’s minds will be if he can successfully achieve his policy objectives. Chief among those goals will be securing the border and effectively enforcing immigration law (read: deportations). He must also tackle violent crime, drug and human trafficking, and foreign criminal gangs, consequences of four years of open borders under Biden. In particular, he’ll face the challenge of focusing on how the Biden Administration dismantled internal immigration enforcement.

Trump’s base is certain to demand federal law enforcement reforms after the targeting of mainstream Americans—like school parents and traditional Catholics—under Biden. They will also call for the law to be upheld against Palestinian terror supporters and left-wing radicals, groups that agencies like the FBI, to put it charitably, have inadequately investigated.

Federal law enforcement will undoubtedly insist they need more money to do the jobs they abdicated over the last four years, which is unlikely to sit well with conservatives frustrated by the perceived weaponization of government.

How can President Trump meet his security goals and exercise control over these powerful law enforcement agencies without countenancing their historic bad behavior? He should begin by leveraging a unique advantage he developed in his first term—exceptional relationships with local law enforcement agencies, especially local sheriffs.

While the Biden Administration infamously refused even to meet with the National Sheriffs’ Association, Trump has a reputation for unapologetically “backing the blue.” He had frequent meetings with sheriff and police associations during his first term, and was also heavily endorsed by law enforcement unions and benevolence associations.

As President Trump considers appointments to key federal posts, he should look outside the Beltway for his lawmen. There’s no requirement that the FBI Director must be a former Special Agent, for example, though that role has often gone to an insider. Similarly, he should consider local and state top cops for key offices at the Department of Homeland Security, especially at ICE and Customs and Border Protection.

President Trump should look to sheriffs to fill U.S. Marshal roles for the 94 federal judicial districts. Doing so would surely help facilitate the cross-deputization of local sheriffs’ deputies and police officers along the Southern border, which is needed to address prohibitions against state and local officials enforcing federal immigration law. That manpower will be required if Trump is to meet his campaign promise of securing the border and expelling millions of illegal aliens.

While some federal bureaucrats may be snobbish about bringing in peace officers from outside D.C., many sheriffs are experienced administrators, and are often responsible for hundreds or even thousands of staff. They routinely juggle local, state, and federal regulations and oversight in the performance of their duties. Importantly, as elected officials themselves, they know what it is to be an executive officer beholden to voters. Conservative organizations working with state and local law enforcement might be well equipped to help identify local law enforcement leaders who support the Trump agenda and would be willing to serve (considering those who have participated in the Claremont Institute’s Sheriffs Fellowship would be an excellent place to start).

Additionally, President Trump knows a thing or two about branding. The iconic image of the American sheriff, wearing a hat and belt buckle while riding in to clean up a corrupt town, should appeal to the president-elect’s strong memetic sense and knack for executing on narratives that resonate with the American people. That’ll be important because the Left will completely lose their minds.

Over the past several years, particularly since 2020, progressives have aggressively targeted local law enforcement, and above all sheriffs, for opprobrium, regularly accusing leaders in the profession of being white supremacists, extremists, and even gang members. Democrats in Congress have gone so far as to introduce legislation seeking federal control over the training and vetting of local law enforcement officers.

President Trump should lean into his support of local law enforcement and utilize local sheriffs to replace the bureaucrats with badges who oversaw the persecution of the president and his supporters during his last administration.

Finally, if President Trump is serious about draining the swamp and reigning in the administrative state, he’ll need appointees who aren’t interested in life-long careers in federal service, but who want to serve (and save!) their country and then go home.

And nobody rides off into the sunset like an American sheriff.