US Marshals seek more funding as threats against judges surge

The U.S. Marshals Service is pressing Congress for a significant budget increase, warning that a sharp rise in threats against federal judges has stretched its resources to a breaking point, while new demands from immigration enforcement are compounding the strain.

In budget documents submitted Friday, the agency requested an additional $34 million for its judicial security division. This money would fund 78 new positions, including 75 deputy U.S. marshals. 

Overall, the Marshals Service is seeking a fiscal 2027 budget of $2.18 billion, up sharply from approximately $1.7 billion this year.

The agency once managed one or two full-time protective details per year, but it is now running as many as nine simultaneously. Each detail requires roughly 20 deputy marshals, forcing the agency to pull officers from other assignments. Agency officials say this practice has increased fatigue, thinned coverage elsewhere, and in some cases delayed or canceled federal court hearings.

“With the threat environment unlikely to decrease in the foreseeable future, the addition of more permanent personnel is vital,” the agency wrote in its budget justification.

Adding to the pressure is the need for around-the-clock security for Supreme Court justices, a protection that was significantly expanded after the 2022 attempted assassination of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. This coverage continues to consume substantial manpower.

The Marshals Service has also been drawn into immigration enforcement under the Trump administration. Its budget request includes a separate $150 million earmarked “to support the Administration's key priority of securing the border” – a demand that, combined with the judicial security crisis, underscores how broadly the agency's mission has expanded in recent years.