XPost: alt.politics.trump, alt.politics.republicans   
   From: super70s@super70s.invalid   
      
   Trump quietly pulls National Guard from Chicago and Los Angeles after   
   series of court losses   
   By Alex Woodward   
   The Independent   
   Wed, February 11, 2026 at 10:38 AM CST   
      
   Donald Trump's administration has quietly withdrawn federalized   
   National Guard troops from Democratic cities after a series of court   
   rulings struck down the president's plans.   
      
   The withdrawal quietly concluded last month, with no public   
   acknowledgment from the White House or Department of Defense despite   
   the administration's insistence that U.S. military assets needed to be   
   deployed on American streets to curb violent crime and support   
   immigration enforcement.   
      
   The end of those deployments, first reported by The Washington Post, is   
   mentioned only by the U.S. Northern Command, stating that troops sent   
   to Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles have "completed demobilizing   
   activities."   
      
   That includes the withdrawal of more than 5,000 troops from California,   
   roughly 500 troops in Chicago and another 200 in Oregon at the   
   president's direction. They were sent home by January 21, according to   
   the Pentagon.   
      
   Those deployments cost nearly half a billion dollars, according to the   
   Congressional Budget Office.   
      
   A month before those deployments ended, Trump announced on his Truth   
   Social account that the administration would be removing service   
   members "despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having   
   these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact."   
      
   "Portland, Los Angeles, and Chicago were GONE if it weren't for the   
   Federal Government stepping in," he wrote. "We will come back, perhaps   
   in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again   
   - Only a question of time!"   
      
   White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson downplayed the news   
   that the administration had withdrawn those troops, as of last month,   
   saying that The Washington Post was covering an "announcement the   
   President made HIMSELF over a month ago," followed by three clown   
   emojis.   
      
   Last year, the president began ordering National Guard troops to   
   several Democratic-led cities, an effort that one federal judge rebuked   
   as Trump's attempt to create "a national police force with the   
   president as its chief."   
      
   Legal challenges from state and local officials accused the   
   administration of using American streets for political theater, and in   
   December, the Supreme Court blocked the administration from sending the   
   military into Chicago. Trump later announced the withdrawal of service   
   members from other cities.   
      
   The Supreme Court, weighing in on the legal battle over boots on the   
   ground in Illinois, appeared to reject the administration's argument   
   that protests against the president's anti-immigration agenda are so   
   volatile that only the National Guard, under Trump's orders, can stop   
   them.   
      
   "For the first time, crickets from Donald Trump," wrote Illinois   
   Governor J.B. Pritzker. "After losing in court multiple times to   
   Illinois and other states, the National Guard was finally quietly   
   pulled out of our streets. The pressure is working, and we've got to   
   keep at it."   
      
   More than 2,500 National Guard members are still in Washington, D.C.,   
   but under a separate arrangement for a mission that is expected to end   
   this year.   
      
   National Guard members were initially deployed to the nation's capital   
   to help fight crime. But have often spent time picking up trash while   
   others patrolled the National Mall and train stations.   
      
   In November, two West Virginia National Guard service members were shot   
   near the White House.   
      
   Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Wolfe remains in inpatient rehabilitation   
   after he sustained a gunshot to the head. His colleague, U.S. Army Spc.   
   Sarah Beckstrom, died one day after the attack.   
      
   There are also troops in Memphis and New Orleans through an agreement   
   with the Trump administration but under the direction of their   
   respective state's governors.   
      
   Last year, Trump had federalized the normally state-authorized National   
   Guards, going above the command and objections of Democratic governors.   
      
   Democratic officials and civil rights groups feared the president was   
   testing the limits of his authority to send active-duty military into   
   American streets for politically charged missions, and violating   
   service members' commitments to stay out of domestic politics in the   
   process.   
      
   Trump deployed troops to Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles under Title   
   10, which allowed the president to exert authority over a state's   
   National Guard. But the military cannot perform law enforcement   
   activities, like making arrests or performing searches.   
      
   In January, the Pentagon ordered roughly 1,500 active-duty troops to   
   prepare for deployment to Minneapolis in response to protests against   
   the administration's surge of immigration officers and violent raids   
      
   That deployment never happened, and the administration pulled out   
   Border Patrol's "commander-at-large" Greg Bovino and roughly 700   
   federal officers after the fatal shootings of demonstrators Renee Good   
   and Alex Pretti.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)