During his second presidency, Donald Trump ordered deployments of National Guard troops to select U.S. cities in 2025 and certain deployments have continued into 2026. Trump has given multiple explanations for the deployments, saying they are officially part of crackdowns on protests, civil unrest, crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration. The actions targeted Democratic Party-led cities and sparked significant controversy, with critics labeling them as abuses of power and potential violations of laws like the Posse Comitatus Act, which limits military involvement in domestic law enforcement. The moves came amidst broader expansions of the military's domestic use during the second Trump administration, and Trump's prior comments during his presidential campaign to use the military to end civil unrest and protests without consent from state governors and target "the enemy within".
Deployments began in Los Angeles in June 2025 and expanded to Washington, D.C., in August 2025, before presidential authorizations were issued to expand to Memphis, Tennessee, and Portland, Oregon, in September 2025. Federal forces arrived in Memphis in October 2025. Plans were underway for Chicago and potentially other cities like New York, Baltimore, San Francisco, and Oakland, California. In September 2025, Trump told military leaders to view the deployments as "training grounds for our military" and described America as under "invasion" and waging "a war from within". In October 2025, Trump authorized federal troop deployments in Chicago as part of Operation Midway Blitz, a multi-agency surge aimed at "criminal illegal aliens" in Illinois and moved on to New Orleans in December.
On September 2, 2025, a federal judge ruled that the administration had illegally sent troops into Los Angeles in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, a development described as potentially complicating Trump's threats for further military deployment. Further court cases and appeals questioned the legality of the deployments, with the U.S. Supreme Court rejecting an administration emergency appeal of a lower court ruling blocking the National Guard deployment to Chicago. On December 31, Trump announced that the administration would be ending its efforts to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago, while suggesting that future National Guard deployments in those cities were still possible. In January 2026, all troops deployed to Chicago, Portland, and Los Angeles were withdrawn, while the National Guard deployment to the District of Columbia was extended to the end of the year.
In the same month, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the deployments to Los Angeles, Memphis, Portland, Chicago, and the District of Columbia cost $496 million from June through December 2025, and would cost $93 million per month if all five deployments and the deployment in New Orleans were continued in 2026 (which would amount to $1.1 billion in total if continued for the whole year). A minority staff report issued by the Senate Homeland Security Committee in February 2026 estimated that the deployment to the District of Columbia alone from August 2025 through the end of the month would cost $332 million (or $602 million on an annualized basis), which compared with a $599 million budget for the Metropolitan Police Department for fiscal year 2026. As noted by local elected and law enforcement officials, crime statistics from before the National Guard deployments showed falling violent crime and property crime rates in Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, and the District of Columbia.
Background
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump said he would use the military to end protests without consent from state governors, actions which his aides had talked him out of during his first term. He also stated he would use the military against "the enemy within", which Trump described as "radical left lunatics", Democratic politicians, and those opposed to his candidacy.
Following his election, the Trump administration launched successive purges of top military and intelligence leadership whose views were seen as being at odds with Trump. As early as February 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth fired multiple military lawyers, saying that "we want lawyers who give sound constitutional advice and don't exist to attempt to be roadblocks to anything". Trump expanded the domestic use of the military, which former military officials and experts on civil–military relations described as an attempt to get Americans used to seeing troops in major American cities and allow Trump to more aggressively quell unrest and dissent. In August, Trump signed an executive order directing the National Guard to create specialized military units to quell civil disturbances in American states to be deployed at his command.
In September 2025, Pentagon leadership unveiled a draft of the National Defense Strategy, which in a dramatic shift from prior plans, prioritized domestic and regional missions rather than combating Russia and China. During a September 30 meeting with over 800 generals and admirals, Trump stated that the deployments should be used as "training grounds for our military" and described America as waging "a war from within"; saying that "America is under invasion from within" and that it was "No different than a foreign enemy, but more difficult in many ways because they don’t wear uniforms."
Deployments Los Angeles
In June 2025, Trump ordered 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests against immigration raids, overriding California governor Gavin Newsom's objections. On September 2, U.S. district judge Charles Breyer ruled that the Trump administration had violated the Posse Comitatus Act in its deployment of military forces, and that the rationale for deployment was contrived, writing that there "was no rebellion, nor was civilian law enforcement unable to respond to the protests and enforce the law".
The New York Times described the federalization and deployment of the California National Guard as Trump "pushing the boundaries of presidential authority and stoking criticism that he is inflaming the situation for political gain" by portraying the events as an "existential threat to the country," and embracing the rhetoric of a nation under siege with Trump saying he needed to "liberate Los Angeles" from a "migrant invasion." Communications experts described the language as militaristic, hyperbolic, inflammatory, and designed to discourage dissent.
The Economist described the response as only barely concerned with restoring order, and stated its purpose was to "create confrontation" and fuel a "cycle of protest, violence and repression" to the administration's benefit. Politico described Trump's response as motivated by attempting to avoid a repeat of the George Floyd protests when he was advised against deploying the military, as acting in his belief of a governing mandate by voters that fueled his 2024 election victory, and serving as a warning to other city and state leaders. Internal military communications expressed concerns of "far-reaching social, political and operational" impacts of the deployment, and that use of military forces posed "extremely high" risk to civilians, troops, and the military's reputation.
On December 15, National Guard troops left the city following a court order for the deployment to end.
Washington, D.C.
Approximately 2,000 National Guard troops, including about 800 from the District of Columbia National Guard, were deployed in August 2025 under a presidential memorandum and Executive Order 14339. Under Executive Order 14333, the administration federalized the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPDC) for 30 days and armed the troops for patrols in tourist areas rather than high-crime zones. Trump claimed this had brought "total safety" and a "miracle" reduction in crime, citing a week without murders. Before the military intervention, crime statistics showed D.C. being in a 30-year low in crime, although there was a small spike in lethality in 2023 that since came down. However, a Washington, D.C., police commissioner was placed on leave for allegedly falsifying crime data in mid-May, and the city police union has claimed that underreporting of crime is a systemic problem. Over 700 arrests and 91 illegal firearms seizures were reported by August 24. A CNN poll conducted showed that nearly 80% of D.C. residents opposed the deployment. Troops were mobilized from Republican-led states which had 10 cities with higher crime rates than D.C.
The federalization of the MPDC ended on September 10, but the National Guard deployment was initially extended to November 30 and subsequently to February 2026. On November 26, a shooting took place outside of Farragut West station, leaving one soldier from the West Virginia National Guard dead and another injured. In response, Trump ordered the deployment of 500 additional National Guard troops.
Memphis
On September 12, 2025, Trump announced the deployment of National Guardsmen to Memphis, Tennessee, saying that "Memphis is deeply troubled" and that he would have preferred deploying the troops to Chicago. He did not specify when the troops would be deployed to the city. In 2025, FBI statistics indicated that Memphis was among the cities with the highest rates of violent crime. Compared to previous years, Memphis' crime was at a 25-year low according to the Memphis Police Department. Trump did not indicate under what authority the troops would be deployed in Memphis.
On September 15, 2025, Trump signed a presidential memorandum directing the Secretary of Defense to request that the Governor of Tennessee deploy the Tennessee National Guard to Memphis and coordinate with other state governors to mobilize other state National Guards for deployment to Memphis, and ordering the deployment of federal law enforcement as part of a task force to coordinate operations with the National Guard. Members of the Memphis municipal government, including Memphis mayor Paul Young and Memphis city council members, spoke against the planned deployment. The Shelby County Board of Commissioners voted on a pair of resolutions to either support a ninety-day deployment or call on Tennessee Governor Bill Lee to oppose the deployment. Both resolutions were rejected by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. Shelby County mayor Lee Harris was less willing to compromise than Young in his opposition to the planned deployment of federal forces to Memphis.
On October 1, 2025, an increased presence of federal law enforcement was visible in Memphis. The same day, Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller told officers of the Memphis Safe Task Force that they were "unleashed". The task force incorporated at least 219 federally deputized officers at the beginning of October. Governor Lee indicated that he believed that any deployment of National Guard troops would include no more than 150 unarmed personnel who would not make arrests unless requested to do so by local authorities.
As of July 2026, at least four people have been shot and killed by federal authorities as part of the Safe Task Force operations.
Chicago
The Pentagon was planning a military deployment in Chicago, Illinois, for weeks ahead of August 2025, with reports at the time stating that thousands of National Guard troops could be mobilized by September 2025. However, by October 11, no such deployment had occurred. Trump has repeatedly singled out Chicago as "next," calling it a "mess" and claiming residents are "screaming" for federal intervention. No formal request has been made to Illinois officials, and crime data shows significant declines (homicides down 30%, shootings down 40% in the past year).