Donald Trump Suggests More U S Cities Need National Guard

President Donald Trump has threatened to dispatch the National Guard to Chicago and other big cities. But data shows most U.S. violent crime has been in a steady decline in recent years (AP video: Mike Householder) Members of the Louisiana National Guard patrol at Union Station, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

National Guard troops patrol the grounds of the Washington Monument with the Capitol seen in the distance as part of President Donald Trump’s order to impose federal law enforcement in the nation’s capital, in... 28, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Members of the West Virginia National Guard near the Washington Monument in Washington, Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2025.

(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib) President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years. By ED WHITE and CHRISTOPHER L. KELLER, Associated Press President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime.

Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years. Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared to the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S. Trump, who has already taken federal control of police in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasn’t threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states. John Roman, a data expert who directs the Center on Public Safety & Justice at the University of Chicago, acknowledged violence in some urban neighborhoods has persisted for generations. But he said there’s no U.S.

city where there “is really a crisis.” President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years. Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared to the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S. Trump, who has already taken federal control of police in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasn’t threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states.

John Roman, a data expert who directs the Center on Public Safety & Justice at the University of Chicago, acknowledged violence in some urban neighborhoods has persisted for generations. But he said there’s no U.S. city where there “is really a crisis.” “We’re at a remarkable moment in crime in the United States,” he said. President Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Ore., to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data show most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years.

Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared with the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S. Trump, who has already taken federal control of police in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasn’t threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states. John Roman, a data expert who directs the Center on Public Safety & Justice at the University of Chicago, acknowledged violence in some urban neighborhoods has persisted for generations. But he said there’s no U.S. city where there “is really a crisis.”

“We’re at a remarkable moment in crime in the United States,” he said. President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years. Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared to the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S. Trump, who has already taken federal control of police in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasn’t threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states.

John Roman, a data expert who directs the Center on Public Safety & Justice at the University of Chicago, acknowledged violence in some urban neighborhoods has persisted for generations. But he said there’s no U.S. city where there “is really a crisis.” “We’re at a remarkable moment in crime in the United States,” he said. President Donald Trump threatened to send “more than the National Guard” to "troubled" U.S. cities, a potential escalation from deploying troops where mayors and governors have opposed them in disputes that have reached the Supreme Court.

“We’re sending in our National Guard and if we need more than the National Guard, we’ll send more than the National Guard because we’re going to have safe cities,” Trump said Oct. 28 at a U.S. naval base in Yokosuka, Japan, during his weeklong Asia trip. “We’re not going to have people killed in our cities. Whether people like that or not, that’s what we’re doing." Trump didn’t specify what the escalation would mean and which cities he is targeting.

Trump has deployed the national guard to cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland and Memphis to quell protests against stricter immigration enforcement. But mayors and governors from all but Memphis have opposed the deployments and challenged them in federal courts with mixed results. If courts block the National Guard deployments, Trump has threatened repeatedly to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act, which would allow him to deploy active-duty troops to fight crime and battle protesters. President Donald Trump has threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, New York, Seattle, Baltimore, San Francisco and Portland, Oregon, to fight what he says is runaway crime. Yet data shows most violent crime in those places and around the country has declined in recent years. Sign up for our free newsletter to receive the latest news

Sign up for our free newsletter to receive the latest news Homicides through the first six months of 2025 were down significantly compared to the same period in 2024, continuing a post-pandemic trend across the U.S. Trump, who has already taken federal control of police in Washington, D.C., has maligned the six Democratic-run cities that all are in states that opposed him in 2024. But he hasn’t threatened sending in the Guard to any major cities in Republican-leaning states.

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