President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago on Saturday, as the city roils from a series of sweeping immigration raids that have caused anger and pushback from local leaders.
The order came a day after a federal judge blocked a similar action by the president to deploy in Portland, Oregon, following a lawsuit brought by the state and the city.
The actions demonstrate President Trump’s increasing willingness to use the U.S. military for domestic political purposes in his second term. In recent months, he has deployed troops to cities across the country, raising concerns about the stifling of dissent against his unpopular government.
Read More: Trump Signals Greater Use of Military in U.S. Cities, Warning of ‘War From Within’
In a speech to top generals last week, Trump called for the U.S. military to use American cities as “training grounds,” describing a fight against “a war from within.”
The deployments also come as the Trump Administration is launching a widespread crackdown on what it describes as “left-wing terrorism” in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. That has involved declaring Antifa a terrorist organization and directing federal agencies to investigate and disrupt liberal philanthropic organizations.
Here are the places where Trump has deployed or is trying to deploy troops 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 immigration 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.
Read More: How Chicago Is Preparing to Fight a Trump Crackdown
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said on Saturday that the president had authorized the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard members to Chicago, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness.”
On Saturday, Pritzker said that after pushing back against the use of National Guard in his state, the White House issued him an ultimatum: “call up your troops, or we will.”
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Pritzker said on X in his thread announcing the 300 troops set to descend upon Chicago. “I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois,” he continued later in the thread.
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.’”
Read More: Mayor Keith Wilson: Portland Doesn’t Need or Want Federal Troops
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.”
“President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement — we expect to be vindicated by a higher court,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told TIME in an emailed statement.
Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday that the 200 National Guard members sent to Oregon were “in place,” although the temporary restraining order is now set to last 14 days. The state plans to file an extension.
“There is no insurrection in Portland. No threat to national security. No fires, no bombs, no fatalities due to civil unrest,” Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement after the ruling came down Saturday. “The only threat we face is to our democracy – and it is being led by President Donald Trump.”
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.
Other local leaders in Memphis, though, have pointed out that the Memphis Police Department (MPD) reported in September that overall crime was at a 25-year low in 2025. In 2023, though, the city hit record highs with more than 390 homicides.
Memphis Mayor Paul Young has said he is “certainly not happy” with Trump’s National Guard deployment.
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.
Read More: Trump Railed Against Youth Crime in D.C. Experts Say His Crackdown Won’t Work
“If I allowed this to happen, CRIME would come roaring back,” Trump says, though D.C.’s violent crime rates were already at all-time lows in 2025 prior to Trump’s federal takeover of the Capitol.
Despite the expiration, troops—many of whom are stationed at parks and tourist spots—are set to remain in D.C. until later this year.
Trump has claimed victory over crime in the city, though, stating that “We have a very safe city now.”
He continued, “The country is going to be safe. We do it one at a time.”
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