The US president stopped deploying troops to US cities due to legal setbacks, but when crime “started to spike” he returned to his vow.

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that he will halt the deployment of federal troops to several Democratic-led cities, a major policy shift.

Wednesday’s announcement comes amid a series of legal setback Trump’s efforts to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Portland, Oregon.

In an article published in Truth Social, Trump said he was “removing” the National Guard from these cities, even though the deployment of the National Guard has been mainly restricted by lower courts.

“We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, despite the fact that the presence of these great patriots in these cities has significantly reduced crime and nothing more,” he said.

Despite this statement, the National Guard is prohibited from directly participating in law enforcement, which remains illegal under U.S. law. Trump did not invoke rebellion law Act of 1807, which allows the president to deploy troops domestically when “unlawful obstruction, combination, assembly, or rebellion” against the federal government renders the laws of the United States “impossible to enforce” the laws of the United States “in the ordinary course of justice.”

Therefore, the primary mission of the troops deployed in or around Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago is to guard federal buildings and provide support services for immigration enforcement.

As of Trump’s announcement, about 300 National Guard members remained under federal control in Los Angeles and Chicago, and another 200 in Portland.

Since first deploying the National Guard in Los Angeles in response to protests over massive immigration enforcement sweeps, Trump has repeatedly claimed that major cities across the United States have been plagued by overlapping crime and immigration crises.

Critics accuse Trump of engaging in dangerous political arenas to target opponents.

Trump’s statement made no mention of the National Guard troops being deployed to federal territory in Washington, D.C., or New Orleans, Louisiana, which was specifically requested by the state’s Republican governor.

legal setback

The president’s move comes amid a series of legal setbacks, including last week’s Supreme Court order upholding a lower court ruling banning the president from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago.

Although the National Guard is a member of the federal military, it is typically deployed at the request of governors. The president can unilaterally deploy the National Guard, but only if other federal agents can no longer enforce the law.

A majority of the Supreme Court ruled that Trump had not yet met that threshold, dealing a major blow to the government’s rationale for a similar rollout across the country.

Earlier Wednesday, attorneys for the California Department of Justice appealed a lower court ruling and withdrew a request to bring troops stationed in the state under federal control. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said the military must be returned to state control.

“The admission by Trump and his secretive Cabinet members means this illegal scare tactic will finally end,” the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat and top Trump critic, said in a post on

Newsom and his staff “look forward” to a more lasting court ruling on the issue.

Trump said in his “Truth Society” post that he would not hesitate to redeploy the military.

“When crime starts to spike again, we’ll come back, maybe in a different, stronger form – it’s just a matter of time!” he said.