Why is Trump trying to deploy the National Guard to US cities?

15 hours ago Share Save Kayla Epstein Share Save

Getty Images National Guard troops deployed in Washington, DC in September stand guard outside Union Station.

President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard into several US cities has drawn a round of legal challenges by state and local officials. Trump argues the use of federal troops is necessary to quell violence in Democratic-controlled cities, crack down on crime and support his deportation initiatives. But several Democratic governors have pushed back, saying the deployments are unnecessary and risk escalating tensions. Illinois filed a lawsuit on Monday asking a judge to block the deployment of troops to Chicago, while a federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard members from Texas and California to Portland, Oregon. As the legal battles continue, here’s what to know about the National Guard:

What is the National Guard and who oversees it?

The National Guard consists of primarily state-based troops that typically respond to issues like natural disasters or large protests. All 50 US states, the District of Columbia, and the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands have their own contingent of National Guard troops. Those troops also can be deployed abroad, and some units specialise in fighting wildfires or securing the US border. Though the National Guard ultimately reports to the Department of Defence, and the president can federalise troops in certain circumstances, requests for its support typically start at a local level. The governor of a state makes the call to activate National Guard troops during an emergency, and can request additional help from the president or other states. National Guard troops have limited power, however. They do not enforce the law, or make arrests, seizures, or searches. And a law called the Posse Comitatus Act limits the power of the federal government to use military force for domestic matters.

How is Trump trying to use the National Guard in cities?

Trump has tried to circumvent the normal process for deploying the National Guard several times now. In June, he took control of the California National Guard to respond to protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles, even though California Governor Gavin Newsom objected. California filed two lawsuits against the Trump administration. One lawsuit challenged Trump’s seizure of the National Guard, but an appeals court ultimately ruled in favour of the president. In a second lawsuit, a federal judge found that Trump’s use of the National Guard troops in Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act. This summer, hundreds of National Guard troops arrived in Washington, DC because of what he called a “situation of complete and total lawlessness.” Trump cited homelessness and crime rates as justification. Trump has now authorised the deployment of 300 National Guard to Chicago following immigration protests, particularly outside detention facilities. Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, alleged Trump is trying to “manufacture a crisis” and has filed a lawsuit. This week, Trump attempted to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, before a federal judge temporarily blocked the action late Sunday night.

What legal basis does Trump use to deploy the National Guard?

A little-known provision of US military law governs the president’s authority to deploy the National Guard on his own. But up until now, presidents rarely used it. 10 US Code § 12406 allows the president to call National Guard troops from any state into service if the US is “invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation,” or “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion” against the US government. Trump invoked this law to federalise 2,000 National Guard troops in June in order to support ICE missions. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth also cited the law in a memo deploying 200 members of the Oregon National Guard into federal service on 28 September. “We’re very confident in the president’s legal authority to do this,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on 6 October. “And we’re very confident we will win on the merits of the law.”

Why does Trump want to use the National Guard in Portland?

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The White House blasted a federal judge who temporarily blocked the Trump administration twice from dispatching National Guard troops to Oregon in October, asserting that President Donald Trump has “undisputed authority” to deploy troops to Portland amid ongoing immigration protests there.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued a ruling late Sunday blocking the Trump administration from sending California National Guard troops to Oregon — or any other state as Trump advances his quest to deploy troops to major U.S. cities to tackle crime and to keep watch on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discredited Immergut’s ruling Monday and said that the Trump administration was appealing the decision.

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“I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law,” Leavitt told reporters at a White House press briefing. “The president is using his authority as commander in chief, U.S. code 12 406, which clearly states that the president has the right to call up the National Guard and in cases where he deems it’s appropriate. … The ICE facility has been really under siege. And, by these anarchists outside, they have been, disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence.”

Earlier Monday, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said that Immergut, a Trump appointee, has no authority to bar the president from sending troops to Oregon, and blasted the decision as one of the most “egregious” orders he’s ever seen.

“A district court judge has no conceivable authority, whatsoever, to restrict the President and Commander-in-Chief from dispatching members of the US military to defend federal lives and property,” Miller said in a Monday X post. “Today’s judicial ruling is one of the most egregious and thunderous violations of constitutional order we have ever seen — and is yet the latest example of unceasing efforts to nullify the 2024 election by fiat.”

“Remember: all of this is about preventing the removal of illegal alien trespassers from the United States at any cost,” Miller said.

The Sunday temporary restraining order came just hours after Trump signed off on mobilizing California National Guard troops to Portland, despite Immergut’s initial restraining order Saturday blocking the deployment of Oregon National Guard troops to the city.

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“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” Immergut said during a telephone hearing Sunday.

“Aren’t defendants simply circumventing my order?” Immergut said later. “Why is this appropriate?”

The Trump administration has argued that the deployment of National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon, is necessary to defend ICE officers amid ongoing protests at an ICE facility there.

Miller previously railed against Immergut’s first restraining order barring the Trump administration from sending troops to Portland, Oregon, and said Saturday the deployment is “an absolute necessity to defend our personnel, our laws, our government, public order and the Republic itself.”

Miller’s posts come amid recent scrutiny for denouncing judges. For example, Democratic Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York singled out Miller and the “extreme right” for “threatening judges” who rule against Trump after a fire broke out at a South Carolina Circuit Court judge’s property Saturday.

Trump’s effort to deploy National Guard troops to U.S. cities comes just after he told military leaders in September that they could be tasked with neutralizing the “enemy within” and that Democratic-led cities where he’s sending troops could serve as “training grounds.”

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“We should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military,” Trump said Tuesday to top military leaders in Quantico, Virginia.

The effort is controversial, given that the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 puts restrictions on deploying U.S. troops to enforce domestic law.

National Guard troops are reserve forces that are mobilized in response to state and federal operations, including natural disasters, and typically are overseen by their respective state governments. However, Trump controversially deployed National Guard troops from states to respond to immigration riots in June, bypassing California Gov. Gavin Newsom to dispatch the troops.

Newsom responded to Immegut’s order late Sunday, and said: “We just won in court — again.”

“Trump’s abuse of power won’t stand,” Newsom said in a post on X.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Trump authorises deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago

16 hours ago Share Save Christal Hayes Share Save

Watch: Protesters face off with ICE agents in Chicago, Illinois

US President Donald Trump has authorised the deployment of 300 US troops to Chicago, to address what he said was out-of-control crime. The move came hours after immigration officials said they confronted protesters in the Democrat-run city. Officials said an “armed woman” was shot after she and others allegedly rammed their cars into law enforcement vehicles. Democrats have for weeks criticised Trump’s deployment plans, calling it an abuse of power. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said Trump was “attempting to manufacture a crisis”. A federal judge in Portland, Oregon, had temporarily blocked the deployment of troops there – though it appears to have tried to overcome this.

Judge Karin Immergut called Trump’s statements about conditions in Portland “untethered to the facts” and said the move violated the Constitution. She said the use of the military to quell unrest without the state of Oregon consenting risked the sovereignty of that state and others, adding that it also inflamed tensions in the city and caused increased protests. Immergut ruled that the administration’s arguments for the deployment “risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power – to the detriment of this nation”. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, applauded the court’s decision and said that she hoped Trump respects the order and halts the deployment. “There is no insurrection in Portland, no threat to national security,” she said. “The only threat we face is to our Democracy – and that threat is being led by President Trump.” The Trump administration has filed a notice indicating it will appeal the judge’s decision. Trump said on Monday that he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to use the military if federal courts stopped his deployment of National Guard troops to US cities. Speaking in the Oval Office, he said: “We have an insurrection act for a reason. If I had to enact it I would do that. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I would do that.” The 1807 act grants the president the power to use military forces inside the country to suppress rebellion and enforce the law. Meanwhile, California’s Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump had ordered 300 National Guard troops in California to deploy to Oregon after the judge’s order. Newsom said he plans to file a lawsuit over the move. In Chicago, it was unclear whether any troops had arrived.

Getty Images It’s unclear whether any troops have yet been mobilised after Trump’s authorisation

Pritzker said Trump was also redeploying 400 members of the Texas National Guard “to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States”. He called on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to “immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to co-ordinate”. The city is the latest to be targeted for a controversial deployment of troops – joining Washington DC, Los Angeles, Memphis and Portland. The deployments have posed both legal and constitutional questions, as National Guard troops are typically deployed by a state’s governor and century-old laws limit the government’s use of the military for domestic matters. Chicago has seen an increase in protests over immigration enforcement in the city, many of them happening outside US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. On Saturday – just before Trump authorised troops there – US Border Patrol personnel shot a woman in Chicago after a group of people rammed cars into immigration enforcement vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement. The woman was armed, it said. DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement: “Agents were unable to move their vehicles and exited the car. One of the drivers who rammed the law enforcement vehicle was armed with a semi-automatic weapon.” “Law enforcement was forced to deploy their weapons and fire defensive shots at an armed US citizen,” she added. The woman’s injuries were unclear. The DHS said she drove herself to a local hospital. Pritzker told CNN on Saturday that Trump’s authorisation of troops there would incite protests. He accused the administration of creating a “warzone” to rationalise the response. “They’re using every lever at their disposal to keep us from maintaining order,” he said.