(NewsNation) — President Donald Trump announced he is pulling National Guard troops out of three Democrat-led cities where he said crime has greatly diminished because of the presence of soldiers who were deployed under his direction.
Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday that the National Guard is pulling out of Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles, which have also been the target of federal immigration crackdowns since Trump took office in January.
“Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in,” Trump wrote in the social media post. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form when crime begins to soar again. Only a question of time.”
However, despite 200 National Guard troops being deployed to Chicago from Texas, those guardsmen were sent back after a Supreme Court ruling in December prevented Trump from sending the National Guard in. Texas National Guardsmen were sent to Chicago to provide support for federal immigration agents, and officers spent two months patrolling this fall.
Despite the court’s 6-3 decision, Trump administration officials argued that troops could still return to cities, arguing they would help reduce crime.
Trump administration officials had previously argued that National Guard troops were needed to protect federal personnel and property from demonstrators who were protesting the presence of federal immigration agents.
In Los Angeles, National Guard troops had already been removed after the Supreme Court ruling in mid-December. However, an appeals court prevented the control of the National Guard to be returned to Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking a pause in that portion of the order, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.
The National Guard was also sent to Portland, where protesters have been a constant presence since 2020. However, like Chicago, guardsmen were never sent into the streets amid legal challenges questioning Trump’s authority to federalize the National Guard.
In November, a federal judge in Oregon ruled against the Trump administration, calling its federalization of Oregon National Guard troops unlawful. Like in Chicago, 200 guardsmen had been federalized by the Trump administration to help cope with protesters who had gathered outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland.
Trump announced in September that he was deploying the National Guard to Portland, which the president characterized as “war-ravaged.” Portland city officials and Oregon elected officials sued the administration over the deployment, setting off a monthslong legal challenge, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.
In his social media post, Trump wrote, “It is hard to believe that these Democrat mayors and governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made.”
