The US president’s deployment of troops to US cities has been controversial, prompting alarm and a series of legal challenges.
Published November 21, 2025
A federal judge says the Trump administration must suspend the deployment of the National Guard to Washington, D.C., a setback for the president’s push to send the National Guard to cities across the country.
U.S. District Judge Gia Cobb suspended the deployment in Thursday’s ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by city officials accusing President Trump of usurping police powers and using the military to enforce domestic law.
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The federal government has its own powers in Washington, DC. But the Trump administration took the controversial step of deploying soldiers to a growing list of Democratic-led cities, despite frequent protests and a lack of a state of emergency from state and local officials.
Cobb said in his decision that the president cannot deploy troops “for any reason” and gave the Trump administration 21 days to appeal before the executive order goes into effect.
Government lawyers denounced the lawsuit challenging the military deployment as a “frivolous exercise.”
“There is no prudent reason to issue an injunction terminating this arrangement now, especially since the district’s claims are without merit,” Justice Department lawyers wrote.
President Trump has also sent troops to cities such as Los Angeles and California. Portland, Oregon. And in Chicago, Illinois, it is being portrayed as an effort to fight crime and round up illegal immigrants.
Residents and civil liberties groups have documented aggressive raids that they say involved widespread rights violations and racial profiling by federal agents, sometimes involving U.S. citizens.
President Trump has threatened to jail local and state officials who criticize the deployment of the military.
“If these professions are allowed to continue, American democracy will never be what it was before,” said a legal challenge filed in September by Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb.
President Trump ordered the first deployment in August, with about 2,300 National Guard troops from each state and hundreds of federal employees from various agencies participating.
