Since the start of his second term, the Republican president has sent or discussed sending troops to 11 cities.
USA, — President Donald Trump has sent or has talked about sending federalized National Guard troops to 11 United States cities since the start of his second term.
This list includes Portland, Oregon; New York; Baltimore; Memphis, Tennessee; the District of Columbia; New Orleans; and the California cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The deployment of troops has prompted protests in impacted cities, including objections of Democratic mayors and governors who are taking Trump and his administration to court.
Here’s an interactive map of all the places Trump and his administration have sent troops or talked about sending troops to:
Can Trump send National Guard troops into states?
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Under federal law, the president can take command of a state’s National Guard troops in limited circumstances: when the U.S. is being invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation; when there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the United States; or when the president is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
While the troop’s role in each city is not entirely clear, the president, contrary to statistics, has repeatedly claimed big cities run by Democrats are overwhelmed with crime.
Most violent crime around the U.S. has declined in recent years. In Chicago, homicides were down 31% to 278 through August, police data shows. Portland’s homicides from January through June decreased by 51% to 17 this year compared with the same period in 2024.
A federal judge said in September the administration “willfully” broke federal law by sending 4,000 National Guard members — along with 700 Marines — to Los Angeles amid protests about immigration raids.
Are the National Guard being paid during a government shutdown?
The National Guard is currently deployed to D.C., Oregon and Tennessee. Under the laws mobilizing them, known as Title 10 and Title 32, the missions are federally funded, meaning it’s likely the troops serving in those states will be unpaid for the federal shutdown, and will receive backpay once the government is funded again.
What does the National Guard do?
The National Guard has hundreds of thousands of part-time troops, many of whom are college students or have day jobs in their civilian life. They regularly drill one weekend a month, with an annual two-week training. They can be deployed overseas in support of combat or to conduct missions like building schools, or they can be sent out within the U.S. in response to disasters or civil unrest.
The Guard’s origins date back as far as 1636, when the first colonywide militia regiments in North America were organized in Massachusetts. The other colonies formed their own militias, which fought under Gen. George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
Because of the abuses of the British army, the framers of the Constitution opposed the idea of a standing army controlled by the president. The militias were kept under the control of the states, and Congress was given the responsibility of determining under what circumstances the president could call them into service.
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