Trump’s deployments of National Guard troops have been a centrepiece of his hardline policies on immigration and crime since returning to the White House in January. The 79-year-old billionaire and former reality star has also sent the National Guard into the capital Washington and to Memphis, Tennessee, and threatened to send them to San Francisco. But the Trump administration had already begun to pull some troops from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland in recent weeks as court judgments went against it. Most had already been demobilised, with the US military saying 100 Guard troops remained deployed at the time. As of last week, some 300 National Guard troops remained activated in the Chicago area but were not engaged in operations.

Source: New Zealand Herald January 01, 2026 00:20 UTC