Trump's National Guard deployments around the US: What we know
On Nov. 26, the day before Thanksgiving, two members of the West Virginia National Guard were hospitalized in critical condition after being shot by a gunman in what investigators said was a "targeted" ambush near the White House in Washington, D.C.. The assault is being investigated as a possible act of terrorism.
Donald Trump has made nationwide deployment of the National Guard a recurring theme of his administration for the last six months. The Republican president has said such efforts are needed to combat urban crime in “troubled” Democrat-led U.S. cities, despite widespread opposition from state and local leaders.
“We’re sending in our National Guard and if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard because we’re going to have safe cities,” Trump said Oct. 28 while visiting Asia. “We’re not going to have people killed in our cities. Whether people like that or not, that’s what we’re doing."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said later that day that the administration would deploy 500 more National Guard troops to the nation’s capital in response to the attack.
On Aug. 11, Trump declared “a crime emergency” in Washington and deployed thousands of National Guard troops to the city “to rescue our nation's capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.”
“We’re going to take our capital back,” he said.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the move “unsettling and unprecedented,” noting that violent crime has been trending downward in the city since 2023.
In September, he and Hegseth, along with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, dined at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab as a way of demonstrating how safe the city had become.
Since then, National Guard troops, some carrying assault rifles, have been sighted patrolling monuments and Metro stations, in many cases limited to picking up trash and erasing graffiti.
On Nov. 25, Trump claimed the city hadn’t experienced a murder in six months, ABC News reported , despite data showing more than 60 homicides there since May 25.
Trump has also threatened to deploy National Guard troops to cities such as New York, Baltimore, New Orleans, St. Louis and Charlotte, North Carolina, even as such efforts have drawn backlash and been repeatedly blocked in court.
Here’s how National Guard troop deployment efforts have played out elsewhere around the country.
Los Angeles, California
In June, Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles , where violent protests against the president’s heightened crackdown on undocumented immigrants included protesters throwing concrete at helmeted police in riot gear.
Trump said federal intervention was necessary because of what he said was the inaction of Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Newsom disputed that on social media , noting the readiness of local police and saying the “purposefully inflammatory” military deployment “will only escalate tensions.”
“We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need,” Newsom said. “This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”
Memphis, Tennessee
On Sept. 15, the president said he would deploy troops to Memphis , a move welcomed by Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, over objections from the city’s mayor, Paul Young.
"We're going to make Memphis safe again," Trump said.
A USA TODAY analysis of FBI data found Memphis, Tennessee’s second largest city, had the highest rates of murder and other violent crime of any large U.S. city in 2024.
On Nov. 17, a Tennessee judge temporarily blocked the deployment, aligning with state and local lawmakers who said use of the troops for law enforcement violates the state constitution. Judge Patricia Head Moskal said the city’s crime rates were not a "grave emergency" or "disaster" justifying military intervention by the governor.
Portland, Oregon
In late September, Trump said on social media that he would send National Guard troops to Portland , a liberal stronghold he described as “war ravaged” and “burning to the ground.”
The move was immediately challenged in court by the city and the state of Oregon.
In early October, U.S. District Court judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, issued temporary restraining orders blocking federalization and deployment of 100 Oregon National Guard troops as well as deployment of National Guard troops from any other state after Trump sends 200 California National Guard troops to the state.
On Nov. 7 , Immergut ruled that National Guard troops can’t be deployed in Portland and that the president overstepped his authority by trying to do so.
"The evidence demonstrates that these deployments, which were objected to by Oregon’s governor and not requested by the federal officials in charge of protection of the ICE building, exceeded the President’s authority," Immergut said.
In a statement, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek called for the California troops to return home.
“Oregon does not want or need military intervention, and President Trump ’s attempts to federalize the guard is a gross abuse of power,” she said.
Chicago, Illinois
Trump deployed 300 Illinois National Guard troops to Chicago in October in what he called “Operation Midway Blitz” to support domestic immigration enforcement officers facing fierce opposition from protesters.
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said.
Pritzker noted that Illinois state police were collaborating with local authorities to coordinate law enforcement activity at ICE facilities and called the deployment a “manufactured performance.”
“I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois,” he said.
Following the deployment, clashes ensued in which federal agents employed pepper balls and tear gas, striking journalists, a pastor and Chicago police officers, according to reports and a lawsuit.
A federal judge in Chicago temporarily blocked the deployment , and Trump has asked the Supreme Court to remove the restriction . The justices could issue a ruling on that temporary block at any time.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: National Guard deployments around the US: What we know
