Donald Trump’s administration has quietly withdrawn federalized National Guard troops from Democratic cities after a series of court rulings struck down the president’s plans.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.
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.
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.
There are also troops in Memphis and New Orleans through an agreement with the Trump administration but under 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.
This is a developing story
Source: independent.co.uk