Overview
- Defense officials confirmed that about 200 California Guard members in Oregon and 200 Texas Guard members in Illinois are being returned to their home states as U.S. Northern Command "rightsized" deployments.
- Roughly 100 Guard troops will remain near Portland and about 300 from the Illinois Guard will stay in the Chicago area for training or facility protection, with no authority to conduct operations with DHS; about 200 Texas Guard soldiers will be on standby at Fort Bliss.
- A federal judge in Oregon issued a permanent injunction blocking federalized Guard deployments to Portland, and the administration has appealed as the Supreme Court weighs an emergency request related to Chicago.
- In a separate state case, a Tennessee chancellor temporarily blocked Gov. Bill Lee’s use of the National Guard in Memphis under the "Memphis Safe Task Force," staying her order for five days to allow an appeal.
- The administration argues it has broad authority under 10 U.S.C. §12406 to federalize and deploy the Guard, while state leaders and courts question the legality of using troops for domestic law enforcement under the immigration enforcement initiative.