President Trump announced plans Wednesday to pull National Guard troops out of three cities where they were deployed to assist in crime prevention and protect federal agents carrying out immigration enforcement operations.
“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, and ONLY by that fact,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago were GONE if it weren’t for the Federal Government stepping in,” the president argued. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!
“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???”
Trump’s announcement follows the Supreme Court rejecting his bid last week to overturn a lower court ruling blocking him from deploying about 300 National Guard troops to Chicago to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The Trump administration’s justification for the attempted troop deployment to the Windy City used a law that permits the president to take over the National Guard if he isn’t able to execute the law with “regular forces.”
The Supreme Court ruling in the Chicago case presented an obstacle to the administration’s efforts to federalize Guardsman in other states, such as California and Oregon.
Trump had previously ordered 4,000 California National Guard troops to deploy Los Angeles to quell violent riots targeting ICE agents and facilities.
A federal judge blocked the Golden State deployment earlier this month and directed the administration to return control of the Guard to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In September, Trump ordered the Oregon National Guard to “protect War ravaged Portland” and ICE facilities “under siege from attack by Antifa,” sending 200 federalized members to Rose City.
By November, a district judge issued a permanent injunction blocking the Portland deployment. The Trump administration is appealing the ruling.
Trump has also deployed Washington, DC, National Guard members in the nation’s capital, where the federal district has less local control.
Violent crime in the district plummeted amid the DC Guard deployment.
Last month, two West Virginia National Guard members participating in the DC mission were shot in what authorities say was a premeditated attack.
The attack left one member dead and the other seriously wounded.
