Every city where Trump has deployed the National Guard

President Donald Trump has ordered the National Guard to put boots on the ground in various U.S. cities this year, citing needs to fight crime and protect federal agents as they arrest illegal immigrants. But the military deployments have often met with local opposition, and courts have in some cases blocked them entirely. While the administration argues National Guard intervention is a legitimate use of presidential power, critics call it an unconstitutional overreach.

The Trump administration netted a court win on Monday, when a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Trump’s National Guard deployment in Portland, Ore., could continue after being paused by a federal judge. Although state and city officials had objected to the deployment as illegal under the Constitution and federal law, the circuit court noted that protests at a Portland U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility had grown so intense and violent at one point that ICE had to shut down the facility for three weeks. When it reopened, the windows remained boarded up.

While many peaceful anti-ICE protests have occurred across the country, some not-so-peaceful protests have also hounded the agency’s operations, the 9th Circuit noted.

It pointed to a Dallas incident in which an individual opened fire on an ICE facility, killing two individuals and injuring a third. In Chicago, authorities arrested an ICE protester who was carrying a gun. And protesters have doxxed, shot with paintball guns, and threatened to stab Federal Protective Services officers.

The court ruled the Trump administration’s National Guard deployment to protect ICE agents and facilities was likely lawful. But court rulings on the matter have been mixed, and in some cases Trump has justified the military deployments not because of ICE protests but for high crime rates. In August, for example, the president declared a local crime emergency in Washington, D.C.

Still, critics say deploying the military on American soil shouldn’t be considered normal.

“It’s very abnormal, except in cases of, like, natural disasters,” said Brenner Fissell, vice president of the National Institute of Military Justice and a professor of military law at Villanova University. “I wish that the public would realize how abnormal this is, and really frankly, un-American, it is to have military acting as police in our streets.”

Fissell said Trump’s military policing is contrary to the Founding Fathers’ vision and arguably illegal. “I think that the justification that [the administration is] giving, which is to protect federal assets, has a requirement which has not been met,” he said, “which is that the local police are unable or unwilling to step up. And that has not been the case.”

As federal courts have pushed back on the National Guard deployments, Trump has threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows for military deployment. But the use of that law is widely considered to be justified only in much more serious cases of unrest, like those seen during the Rodney King riots of the 1990s, according to Fissell. And the current clashes with ICE agents or other federal authorities haven’t risen to that level yet, he said.

Aside from questions about the Insurrection Act, federal courts are wrestling with whether they should defer to the administration’s perspective on whether the existing National Guard deployments are warranted, said Joshua Braver, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. Braver said there are reasons to believe that the Trump administration might not be fully transparent about the facts on the ground.

“You can give deference, you can give leeway to people or an administration that respects norms [and] acts in good faith,” Braver said. “That has not been the case with this administration in the courts.” He noted that trust between courts and the executive branch has broken down this year, in part due a lack of courtroom cooperation from the Trump administration.

Braver said the Trump administration has seemingly retaliated against its lawyers who cooperate too willingly with court orders. He pointed to a case from earlier this year in which former Department of Justice Attorney Erez Reuveni filed a whistleblower complaint against the DOJ, saying he was fired after he told the court that an immigrant had been deported in error. DOJ officials have insisted Reuveni’s allegations are false.

“The system and the norms upon which deference were based are gone,” Braver said.

Nonetheless, courts remain divided on whether to give that deference to the Trump administration regarding its National Guard deployments. Here’s a roundup of the current ordered deployments, whether in place or blocked, along with others the administration has signaled it may be planning.

Cities where the National Guard has been deployed

Los Angeles, Calif.

President Trump deployed 4,000 guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June to quell violent protests against ICE operations in the city. A federal judge ruled in September that the deployment violated the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the military from performing law enforcement duties unless authorized by Congress. The Trump administration appealed the decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A panel of judges heard the case Wednesday.

Memphis, Tenn.

Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis in October over high crime rates. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, supports the deployment, but Memphis Mayor Paul Young, a Democrat, opposes it.

Washington, D.C.

In an August executive order, Trump proclaimed a crime emergency in Washington, D.C., and deployed National Guard troops. The order placed the local police department under the president’s authority for 30 days. There are currently still around 2,200 National Guard troops in Washington and the deployment is expected to run through Nov. 30.

Cities where Trump has tried to deploy National Guard

Chicago, Ill.

In early October, Trump authorized the deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago. A federal judge quickly blocked the move. “We’re obviously going to litigate this as much as we can,” Vice President J.D. Vance said on ABC’s This Week on Oct. 12. The federal government has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court.

In September, the Trump administration stepped up immigration enforcement in Chicago—a sanctuary city—with Operation Midway Blitz. On Oct. 4, a federal agent shot an armed woman after around 10 cars boxed him in during an immigration enforcement effort. A grand jury has indicted the woman and a man on charges that include impeding a federal officer.

Portland, Ore.

On Sept. 27, Trump announced on Truth Social he was sending “all necessary troops” to Portland. He aimed to protect ICE facilities “under siege from attack by Antifa and other domestic terrorists.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered 200 members of the Oregon National Guard to be placed under federal control for 60 days to deploy in Portland. A federal judge subsequently issued two temporary restraining orders blocking National Guard deployments. Although the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned one of those orders, as of Thursday guard members still had not returned to the street amid continued legal wrangling.

Cities where Trump has called for deployment

Baltimore, Md.

On Sept. 2, Trump suggested he might send troops to Baltimore. “I have an obligation to protect this country and that includes Baltimore,” he said.

New Orleans, La.

On Sept. 3, Trump suggested sending troops to New Orleans. “We are going to be going to maybe Louisiana, and you have New Orleans which has a crime problem,” he said. “We’ll straighten that out in about two weeks.” Republican Gov. Jeff Landry has publicly voiced his support for a deployment.

New York, N.Y.

On Aug. 22, Trump told reporters, “We’re going to make our cities very, very safe.” He added that, after sending troops to Chicago, “we’ll help with New York.”

Oakland, Calif.

On Aug. 11, Trump discussed the National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., and said, “Then you have, of course, Baltimore and Oakland. We don’t even mention that anymore. They are so far gone. We are not going to let that happen. We are not going to lose our cities over this." Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee, a Democrat, responded, “We are not going to allow a military occupation of this city.”

San Francisco, Calif.

On Aug. 22, Trump told the media, “Look at what the Democrats have done to San Francisco. They’ve destroyed it. We could clean that up, too.” San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins told reporters her city doesn’t need the help. “San Francisco’s crime rates have been dropping for the last three years. We are at historic lows in many categories,” she said. Trump said Oct. 23 he decided not to send troops to San Francisco for now to give Mayor Daniel Lurie “a chance” at tamping down crime.

St. Louis, Mo.

On Sept. 12, Trump appeared on Fox News and said the CEO of Union Pacific Railroad asked him to take on crime in St. Louis. “I said to him: ‘Where else should we go? Where would you say?’” Trump said. “He said, ‘Sir, please, do me a favor. St. Louis has been so badly hit. It’s very hard. Very, very hard.’” Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe responded that there are no plans to mobilize the National Guard but he welcomes Trump’s concern.