Federalized National Guard Troops Exit Chicago, LA, Portland

U.S. military officials confirmed that all federalized National Guard troops deployed to Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, Oregon, have completed their withdrawal by January 21, marking the end of operations initiated by the Trump administration to support immigration enforcement amid local protests.

The deployments began late last year, when President Trump federalized National Guard units from Illinois, California, and Oregon without the consent of their Democratic governors. Officials stated that the troops were sent to assist federal law enforcement in protecting federal buildings and maintaining order during demonstrations against immigration raids. This marked the first such action by a president since the civil rights era, bypassing the traditional requirement for a governor's request to place state-based forces under federal command.

In practice, the troops saw limited engagement. In Portland and Chicago, court rulings prevented them from operating on city streets; a federal judge in Portland deemed the federalization unlawful, and the Supreme Court in December declined to overturn a lower court's block on the Chicago deployment. In Los Angeles, a pending court case...