President Donald Trump is removing National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon days after a major setback in the Supreme Court.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the federal intervention, strongly opposed by local officials, had “greatly reduced” crime in Chicago, L.A. and Portland and that those cities would be “gone” if the Guard had not been sent. Crime rates had already fallen in all three cities before the deployments.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again – Only a question of time!” Trump said in the post.
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Supreme Court’s decision
The Supreme Court on Dec. 23 denied an emergency request from the Trump administration, which argued troops were necessary to protect federal agents working in Chicago to enforce immigration policy.
The court rejected the administration’s claim that circumstances in Illinois met the criteria for the president to invoke the Insurrection Act. The rarely invoked law, enacted in 1807, authorizes presidents to nationalize the National Guard when “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
In its ruling, however, the Supreme Court said the administration “has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois.”
While the decision only applied to Chicago, it likely would have strengthened other cities’ challenges to National Guard deployments.
National Guard deployments
Trump initially deployed National Guard troops and Marines to Los Angeles in June amid demonstrations against his immigration policies. In October, he sent 500 Guard members to Chicago and activated 200 troops for Portland. However, none were actively operating in either city because of the pending Supreme Court case.
In December, an appeals court ordered the Trump administration to return control of the California National Guard to Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Trump’s new order does not affect Washington, D.C., where troops have also been deployed. An appeals court said that because the capital is a federal district, not a state, the president had the authority to activate the National Guard there.
