Trump announces removal of National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland

US President Donald Trump Announces Withdrawal of National Guard Deployment to Certain Cities

In a statement on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump announced that his administration is ceasing efforts to deploy federal troops to several Democratic-led cities. The decision comes amid a series of legal setbacks to the administration’s plans to deploy National Guard members to Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Portland, Oregon.

According to Trump, the National Guard will be removed from these cities, despite existing limitations on their deployment due to lower court rulings. However, it is worth noting that the National Guard has been barred from taking direct part in law enforcement, which remains a requirement under US law.

The announcement follows a series of legal challenges to the administration’s plans, including a Supreme Court order that upheld a lower court ruling barring the president from deploying the National Guard to Chicago. The majority of Supreme Court justices ruled that Trump had not yet met the threshold for deploying troops in instances where other federal agents could no longer execute the law.

The withdrawal comes as the Department of Justice lawyers in California withdrew a request to keep troops in the state under federal control, following an appeals court ruling that required their return to state control. A statement from the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom welcomed the announcement, stating that it marked the end of “illegal intimidation tactics”.

Trump stated that he would not hesitate to redeploy troops if crime levels begin to rise again. The National Guard had been deployed in these cities primarily to guard federal buildings and provide support services for immigration enforcement. Approximately 300 National Guard members remained under federal control in Los Angeles and Chicago, while 200 more were stationed in Portland.

Source: Al Jazeera