Hundreds of National Guard troops deployed to Chicago and Portland, Oregon, are being sent home, and those who will remain will continue to stay off the streets amid court battles over their domestic mission by the Trump administration, a defence official said Monday (November 17, 2025).

The withdrawal of soldiers — sent from California and Texas — is part of a larger change to troop deployments after President Donald Trump began his immigration crackdown in various cities with Democratic leadership. The official was not authorised to publicly discuss the issue and requested anonymity.

U.S. Northern Command said in a statement Sunday (November 16, 2025) it was “shifting and/or rightsizing” units in Portland, Los Angeles and Chicago, although it said there would be a “constant, enduring, and long-term presence in each city.”

In the coming days, 200 California National Guard troops currently deployed to Oregon will be sent home, and about 100 will remain in the Portland area doing training, the official said. The military also plans to cut the number of Oregon National Guard troops on deployment there from 200 soldiers to 100, the official said.

About 200 Texas National Guard troops in Chicago also are being sent home and about 200 soldiers will be on standby at Fort Bliss, an Army base that stretches across parts of Texas and New Mexico, the official said.

About 300 Illinois National Guard troops will remain in the Chicago area, also doing training, but they currently are not legally allowed to conduct operations with the Department of Homeland Security, the official said.

The official said the upcoming holiday season may have played a role in the change in deployments.

Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, said Mr. Trump “never should have illegally deployed our troops in the first place.”

“We’re glad they’re finally coming home,” she wrote in an email. “It’s long overdue!”

Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s office did not return calls for comment. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said the Trump administration doesn’t communicate its plans with state leaders and was still threatening to federalise more troops.

“This confirms what we have always known: This is about normalizing military forces in American cities,” Mr. Pritzker’s spokesman Matt Hill said in a statement Saturday (November 15, 2025).

Mr. Hill didn’t immediately return a message left Monday (November 17, 2025).

Democratic cities targeted by Mr. Trump for military involvement — including Chicago, which filed a separate lawsuit on the issue currently before the U.S. Supreme Court — have been pushing back. They argue the President has not satisfied the legal threshold for deploying troops and that doing so would violate states’ sovereignty.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut in Portland this month issued a permanent injunction blocking Mr. Trump from deploying troops in the city, saying he had failed to establish that he was legally entitled to do so. On Sunday (November 16, 2025), the administration filed an emergency motion seeking to put the ruling on hold while it appeals.

Separately, the Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement in Charlotte, North Carolina, expanding an aggressive campaign that’s been spearheaded by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

National Guard deployments have been one of the most controversial initiatives of Mr. Trump’s second term, demonstrating an expanded willingness to use the military to accomplish domestic goals.

Troops, including active-duty Marines, were deployed to Los Angeles during immigration protests earlier this year.

The National Guard was also sent to Washington, D.C., where they were part of a broader federal intervention that Mr. Trump claimed was necessary because of crime problems.

The deployments later expanded to Portland and Chicago.

Although they don’t play a law enforcement role, members of the National Guard have been tasked with protecting federal facilities, particularly those run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

About 100 troops who have been in Los Angeles will remain on deployment, the defence official said.

Published – November 18, 2025 03:56 am IST

A Federal Judge in Oregon temporarily blocked U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration from deploying the National Guard in Portland, ruling in a lawsuit brought by the state and city.

U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut issued the order pending further arguments in the suit. The plaintiffs say a deployment would violate the U.S. Constitution as well as a federal law that generally prohibits the military from being used to enforce domestic laws.

Immergut wrote that the case involves the intersection of three fundamental democratic principles: “the relationship between the federal government and the states, between the military and domestic law enforcement, and the balance of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.”

“Whether we choose to follow what the Constitution mandates with respect to these three relationships goes to the heart of what it means to live under the rule of law in the United States,” she wrote.

Generally speaking the President is allowed “a great level of deference” to federalise National Guard troops in situations where regular law enforcement forces are not able to execute the laws of the United States, the Judge said, but that has not been the case in Portland.

Plaintiffs were able to show that the demonstrations at the Portland immigration facility were not significantly violent or disruptive in the days or weeks leading up to the President’s order, the Judge wrote, and “overall, the protests were small and uneventful.”

“The President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts,” the Judge added.

The Defence Department had said it was placing 200 members of Oregon’s National Guard under federal control for 60 days to protect federal property at locations where protests are occurring or likely to occur after Mr. Trump called the city “war-ravaged.” Oregon officials said that description was ludicrous. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in the city has recently been the site of nightly protests, which typically drew a couple dozen people in recent weeks before the deployment was announced.

The Republican President has deployed or threatened to deploy troops in several U.S. cities, particularly ones led by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago and Memphis. Speaking to U.S. military leaders in Virginia on Tuesday (September 30, 2025), the President proposed using cities as training grounds for the Armed forces.

Last month a Federal Judge ruled that Mr. Trump’s deployment of some 4,700 National Guard soldiers and Marines in Los Angeles earlier this year was illegal, but he allowed the 300 who remain in the city to stay as long as they do not enforce civilian laws.

As for Portland, the Defence Department announced that it was placing 200 members of Oregon’s National Guard under federal control for 60 days to protect federal property at locations where protests are occurring or likely to occur.

That announcement came after Mr. Trump called “war-ravaged” in late September, a characterisation that Oregon officials called ludicrous while saying they do not need or want federal troops there.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland has been the site of nightly protests, and the demonstrations and occasional clashes with law enforcement have been limited to a one-block area in a city that covers about 145 square miles (375 square km) and has about 636,000 residents.

A handful of immigration and legal advocates often gather at the building during the day. At night, recent protests have typically drawn a couple dozen people.

A larger crowd demonstrated September 28 following the announcement of the guard deployment. The Portland Police Bureau, which has said it does not participate in immigration enforcement and only intervenes in the protests if there is vandalism or criminal activity, arrested two people on assault charges.

A peaceful march earlier that day drew thousands to downtown and saw no arrests, police said.

Mr. Trump sent federal officers to Portland over the objections of local and state leaders in 2020 during long-running racial justice protests following George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police. The administration sent hundreds of agents for the stated purpose of protecting the federal courthouse and other federal property from vandalism.

That deployment antagonised demonstrators and prompted nightly clashes. Federal officers fired rubber bulled and used tear gas.

Viral videos captured federal officers arresting people and hustling them into unmarked vehicles. A report by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general found that while the federal government had legal authority to deploy the officers, many of them lacked the training and equipment necessary for the mission.

The Government agreed this year to settle an excessive force lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union by paying compensating several plaintiffs for their injuries.

Published – October 05, 2025 07:01 am IST