President Donald Trump has announced the withdrawal of National Guard troops from three major U.S. cities — Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland — marking a notable shift in his administration’s approach to domestic security and crime policy.
The Guard had been deployed in mid-2025 amid heightened political debate over crime, protests, and immigration enforcement. In announcing the withdrawal, Trump said the decision does not permanently end the deployments, adding that federal forces could return if crime rates rise again. The move reframes the presence of the Guard as conditional rather than ongoing.
Local leaders in all three cities had strongly criticized the deployments, arguing they represented federal overreach into matters traditionally handled by state and local authorities. Governors and city officials maintained that public safety was being addressed through local law enforcement and community-based strategies, without the need for federal military involvement.
The withdrawals also follow a series of legal challenges that narrowed the scope of presidential authority to deploy National Guard units without state consent. Court rulings reinforced constitutional limits on federal power, emphasizing that the Guard remains under state control except in narrowly defined circumstances.
In Chicago, officials pointed to declining violent crime levels over the past year as evidence that large-scale federal deployments were unnecessary. Governors in California, Oregon, and Illinois welcomed the return of their Guard units, framing the decision as a restoration of constitutional balance and local control.
The removal of National Guard troops from these cities highlights ongoing tensions between federal authority and local governance on public safety issues. As crime, immigration, and executive power continue to shape national debate heading into 2026, the episode underscores broader questions about how — and when — the federal government should intervene in domestic policing matters.
