The Trump Administration’s Use of the National Guard
The Trump administration has deployed 300 federalized members of the California National Guard to Oregon, on Sunday, a day after being blocked by a federal judge from federalizing Oregon’s own National Guard. This move was announced by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who described it as a “breathtaking abuse of power” and stated that his state would take legal action.
“This isn’t about public safety, it’s about power. The commander in chief is using the U.S. military as a political weapon against American citizens. We will take this fight to court, but the public cannot stay silent in the face of such reckless and authoritarian conduct by the president of the United States,” Newsom said.
President Donald Trump also authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago on Saturday, as the city faces unrest due to a series of immigration raids. These actions highlight Trump’s increasing willingness to use the U.S. military for domestic political purposes during his second term. In recent months, he has deployed troops to cities across the country, raising concerns about the suppression of dissent against his unpopular government.
Key Deployments Across the United States
Chicago
Chicago has faced weeks of threats from Trump over the deployment of troops to the city, which he has characterized as a “hellhole.” Trump drew outrage when he threatened Chicago with the newly renamed Department of War, a statement he eventually walked back.
The Trump Administration launched an expanded immigration crackdown dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz” in the city in September, which has brought a dramatic increase in federal raids and arrests. That, in turn, has prompted an increase in protests and turned the city into a flashpoint in the nationwide immigration crackdown.
Trump’s threats and the increased raids drew backlash from Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Johnson has accused Trump of “authoritarianism,” and he and Pritzker have continuously said that Chicago does not want the military on their streets.
Both Johnson and Pritzker have attempted to prepare for a potential National Guard deployment in several ways, including a city measure that directs the city’s police force not to cooperate with federal agents in a potential crackdown on crime and immigration, and Pritzker’s promise to “absolutely” sue the federal government over the issue.
Portland
The Trump Administration activated 200 National Guard soldiers in Portland on Friday as it waited for a court to rule on a lawsuit brought by the city and state. On Saturday, District Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment, stating that Trump’s deployment was done so “absent constitutional authority,” and that current protests in the city against immigration enforcement “did not pose a ‘danger of a rebellion.’”
This news comes a week after Trump announced that he directed his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to send troops to “War ravaged Portland” in response to immigration enforcement protests, and that troops would protect “ICE facilities under siege from attack by Antifa,” and that he authorized “full force, if necessary,” in the Oregon city.
Immergut, a Trump appointee, said that skirmishes between protestors and ICE facilities are “nowhere near” the levels that could not be handled by local law enforcement, and that the Trump Administration’s arguments “risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power—to the detriment of this nation.”
Memphis
While Trump’s effect in Chicago and Portland is yet to be seen, Trump’s crackdown on Memphis, Tennessee, is already underway, after the President signed a memorandum two weeks ago directing agents from multiple agencies, as well as the National Guard, to address what he says are “tremendous levels of violent crime” in the city.
Thirteen federal agencies comprise the new “Memphis Safe Task Force,” which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi says is already making arrests. Unlike the Governors of Oregon and Illinois, though, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has welcomed Trump’s militarization in Memphis, and says that the operation will occur over the “next weeks and months.”
“Memphis is a world-class city with a historic opportunity to address its crime challenge,” Lee said on his social media, adding that he will be working “side-by-side” at the local and federal level.
Washington, D.C.
Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to D.C. and his federalization of D.C. police in August was the first of several more attempts to come. President Trump declared a 30-day takeover of Washington, D.C.’s police force via a state of emergency declaration. Although the 30 days expired in mid-September, the federal crackdown on the city is not yet over.
The city pushed back against Trump’s federalization, specifically Bondi’s move to tap the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to be D.C.’s “emergency police commissioner,” a move that was considered illegal and eventually allowed MPD chief Pamela Smith to remain in charge of the police force.
Prior to the expiration, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered city officials to continue coordinating with federal law enforcement, but notably, this order did not include cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the city. (According to The Associated Press, more than 40 percent of arrests during Trump’s crackdown—a crackdown that was posed to be about crime—were related to immigration.)
Trump threatened to federalize the police once again if Bowser and D.C. leadership did not cooperate with immigration enforcement.
