After months of street protests and legal challenges, President Donald Trump has reversed his controversial decision to deploy National Guard troops to Portland.
But the New Year’s Eve announcement sparked another controversy when Trump said National Guard troops had reduced crime in Portland and could still be deployed if crime increases in the future.
“We will come back, perhaps in a much different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again — Only a question of time!” Trump said in a social media post on Dec. 31, 2025.
Mayor Keith Wilson promptly pushed back that the troops had never been deployed in Portland and that crime has been reduced over the past year by the Portland Police Bureau.
“Portland’s substantial reduction in crime and violence is credited entirely to the hard work of the Portland Police Bureau, Office of Violence Prevention, innovative public safety programs and community leaders across the city. We are not clear on the claims made in this social media post, as National Guard troops were garrisoned locally but never deployed in Portland,” Wilson said in his own Dec. 31 statement.
Trump’s reversal also applies to Chicago and Los Angeles. It was made after the U.S. Supreme Court prevented him from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago on Dec. 23.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield has also challenged Trump’s deployment of troops to Portland in federal court. Oregon U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut blocked the deployment in late 2025, ruling there was no legal basis or credible evidence of sufficient threat to federal property or personnel to justify federalizing state National Guard units and deploying them without the governor’s consent.
“Portland never saw troops on its streets because the law prevailed, and similar efforts across the country have faced legal setbacks. We’re grateful for the professionalism of the Guard members caught in the middle of this legal fight. This outcome shows that standing up for the Constitution works. We look forward to seeing the formal orders that send them home to their families and communities safely. “If the federal government attempts to revisit this effort, we are prepared to respond — again — in court,” Rayfield said in a Dec. 31 statement.
Portland City Council President Elana Pirtle-Guiney praised the public reaction to Trump’s deployment threat.
“These past few months, Portlanders have shown the nation beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are not the war-torn city our president hoped to incite: we are peaceful, vibrant, and deeply caring for our neighbors. I’m glad that President Trump has finally caught on to the fact that this troop deployment was both unnecessary and unlawful, despite the disinformation he continues to spread in an effort to justify his actions,” Pirtle-Guiney told the North Peninsula Review.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek said in a statement Wednesday that her office had not yet received official notification that the remaining federalized Oregon National Guard troops can return home.
“They were never lawfully deployed to Portland and there was no need for their presence. If President Trump has finally chosen to follow court orders and demobilize our troops, that’s a big win for Oregonians and for the rule of law,” Kotek said on Dec. 31.
Trump originally said he was deploying the troops to the city on Sept. 27 in part to protect the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in South Portland that has been the scene of ongoing protests for many months. They are continuing, even though Portland police and federal law enforcement officers have made occasional arrests.
As reported by Oregon Public Broadcasting, 100 Oregon National Guard members remained deployed on Wednesday. That is half the initial 200-member deployment ordered up by Trump in late September.
According to Lt. Col. Stephen Bomar, a spokesman for the Oregon Military Department, the troops have been stationed at Camp Rilea — on the state’s North Coast — and at Camp Withycombe in suburban Clackamas County.
The OMD could not offer a timeline for how quickly the Oregon troops would be deactivated. Bomar said that would be up to U.S. Northern Command, which has authority over the deployment. He said deactivation would likely require a trip to a base in Texas, OPB reported.