On Wednesday, President Donald Trump announced the planned withdrawal of National Guard personnel from three major American cities: Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland. This move came amid a series of legal obstacles faced by Trump's administration regarding the federal deployment of troops in these urban areas.
Communicating via his social media platform, Truth Social, the president declared the National Guard would be pulled out despite what he described as a significant drop in crime attributed to their presence. ``We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities,'' he wrote.
The announcement comes in the context of criticism from local authorities and Democratic leaders. According to reports, these officials have argued that the deployment of federal troops was both unnecessary and an overextension of federal power. They asserted that individual incidents had been magnified to rationalize the military presence, which they viewed as disproportionate.
Nonetheless, President Trump stressed the importance of these deployments in lowering crime rates and safeguarding federal properties. However, his message contained a clear warning that the National Guard forces might be redeployed if crime were to escalate once more. ``We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!'' he added.
This withdrawal notice was made shortly before a federal appellate court mandated that California National Guard troops stationed in Los Angeles must be returned to the control of Governor Gavin Newsom. The judiciary has played a pivotal role in these developments, curbing federal attempts at deploying the Guard in several jurisdictions.
Previously, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked President Trump's efforts to station troops in Illinois, thereby weakening the administration's legal standing for ordering similar deployments in other states. The court underscored that federal authority over National Guard units typically applies only in exceptional situations.
In response to the federal announcement, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson presented crime statistics that showed a significant drop in violent offenses through 2025, reaching the lowest levels recorded in over a decade. This data has been a point of reference in debates over the efficacy of the National Guard's involvement.
Military officials have concurrently begun scaling back their deployments as legal battles continue to shape the operational landscape. The decision to recall California troops signifies a key juncture in the protracted legal conflict between state governments and the federal administration.