Trump says he is dropping National Guard push in Chicago, LA and Portland for now

President Donald Trump said he is dropping — for now — his effort to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, following a series of legal setbacks.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said he was withdrawing the Guard deployments for the time being, while warning they could return. “We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — only a question of time!” he wrote.

National Guard troops had already been withdrawn from Los Angeles after Trump ordered their deployment earlier this year as part of a broader crackdown on crime and immigration. Troops were also dispatched to Chicago and Portland, but were never deployed on city streets as court challenges stalled the effort.

Trump’s moves to send the Guard into Democratic-led cities have faced legal opposition at nearly every stage.

In December, the Supreme Court declined to allow the administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area as part of its immigration enforcement push — a rare and significant setback, though not a final ruling. In Washington, DC, Attorney General Brian Schwalb sued to block the deployment of more than 2,000 guardsmen, while a federal judge in Oregon permanently barred their use there.

In California, National Guard troops were removed from Los Angeles streets by December 15 following a court order. An appeals court later paused a separate provision that would have immediately returned control of the Guard to Governor Gavin Newsom. However, in a court filing on Tuesday, the Trump administration said it was no longer seeking to delay that transfer, clearing the way for the California National Guard to return fully to state control after Trump federalized the force in June.