Donald Trump pulls National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland

In a dramatic turn underscored by sharp political overtones, US President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of National Guard troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, days after the Supreme Court dealt a blow to his administration’s deployment plans.

Taking to his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday (local time), Trump claimed the guard’s presence had sharply curbed crime in the three Democrat-led cities, crediting federal intervention for preventing what he described as their near collapse. Yet, he said, the troops were now being pulled out — with a warning.

“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again,” Trump wrote, lashing out at what he called the “greatly incompetent” Democratic mayors and governors of the regions.

The announcement follows a significant legal setback for the administration. Just days earlier, the US Supreme Court, in a 6–3 decision, blocked Trump’s move to deploy the National Guard in Chicago to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, ruling that the federal government had failed to establish clear legal authority for such action. “At this preliminary stage, the government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said in its order.

The dispute has its roots in early October, when Trump federalised 300 members of the Illinois National Guard for deployment in and around Chicago, followed by the mobilisation of Texas National Guard personnel to the city. Illinois swiftly challenged the move, prompting a temporary restraining order from a federal district court on 9 October — a decision later upheld by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which allowed federalisation but barred deployment.

Undeterred, the administration took the fight to the Supreme Court, arguing that rising crime in Democrat-ruled cities necessitated federal action. Democrats, however, have questioned the intent behind the move, framing it as politically motivated rather than driven by public safety concerns.

For now, the Guard is stepping back — but Trump’s words suggest the standoff between federal authority, the courts and Democratic strongholds is far from over.

With IANS inputs