U.S. Marines and National Guard troops patrol the entrance to the Los Angeles Metropolitan Detention Center as protesters gather, July 4, 2025.
Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
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Etienne Laurent/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump said his administration will halt its efforts to station National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, for now, after its deployment to the Democratic-led cities suffered a series of legal setbacks.
IN True post on social network On Wednesday, Trump praised the deployments and said they have helped reduce crime.
“Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago would have disappeared if the federal government had not intervened,” he said.
The deployment of forces to Chicago and Portland was blocked by the courts, and Guard members left California after sharp rebuke from a US district court judge earlier this month.
More recently, Supreme Court last week ruled against the administration's emergency call for troops in Chicago. This was the first time the Supreme Court intervened in a case. While the decision did not set a precedent, it did provide some clarity to Trump's presidential powers.
Trump has argued that the Guard is needed in Democratic-led cities to suppress crime and protect federal immigration officers and agencies. Democratic governors in these states strongly opposed the deployment of troops, and federal judges were also wary of allowing the military to interfere in civilian matters.
“This principle underlies the protection of our fundamental freedoms under the Constitution,” he said. US District Court Judge Karin Immergut wrote in her November order freezing Trump's troop deployment in Portland, Oregon.
Trump has also deployed National Guard troops to other U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., where more than 2,000 Guard members have been on patrol since August.
Those deployments also faced legal challenges earlier this month. federal appeals court ruled that troops could remain in the capital until a panel of judges considered the legality of their deployment.
Several Republican-led states welcomed the Guard's arrival. In Tennessee, troops began patrolling in October. And moments after the Supreme Court's decision, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced that 350 troops would be sent to New Orleans. Members of the National Guard arrived in the city on Tuesday. Member station WWNO reported the news.
In his Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump promised: “We will be back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime starts to rise again. It's only a matter of time!”
