Hundreds of federalized National Guard members sent to Illinois and Oregon will return to their home states as early as this week, a defense official told NBC News on Monday.
The official said that 200 California National Guard members activated for the greater Portland area will head back home, leaving 100 members of the Oregon National Guard in place. In Illinois, 200 Texas National Guard members will depart the state, leaving 300 Illinois guard members there.
The remaining guards will be conducting training, but are not on mission to protect federal property or personnel.
ABC News first reported the development.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, on Monday celebrated the out-of-state guard members going home, saying that Trump’s “disregard for the rule of law has real human consequences.”
“Members of the Oregon National Guard, who are our friends and neighbors, have been away from their families and jobs for 50 days on an unnecessary deployment,” Kotek said. “With the holidays approaching, every single member deserves to go home.”
The office of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday night.
The forthcoming departures come amid a monthslong legal standoff between the states and President Donald Trump, who first federalized California and Texas guard members for Oregon and Illinois, respectively, as part of his administration’s efforts to curb crime in Democratic-led cities like Portland and Chicago.
Trump in September directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to mobilize National Guard forces to Portland during protests opposing the administration’s immigration enforcement policies. Days later, Trump authorized guard members for Illinois.
The president had federalized 500 guard members, 200 of which were from Texas and the rest from Illinois.
Court fights have prevented the deployment of federalized forces in Oregon and Illinois.
Both Pritzker and Kotek repeatedly opposed the administration’s efforts to send in the guard. Oregon and Illinois separately sued the government for deploying the guard to their states; California objected that its state’s guard be deployed to Oregon, and argued in Oregon’s case against the government.
An appeals court last month temporarily upheld a lower court’s ruling, which blocked Trump from deploying the guard in Illinois. A federal judge in Oregon this month permanently barred the administration from deploying California guard members in Portland.
The administration has appealed both rulings.
As of Monday, more than 2,000 National Guard members remain stationed in Washington, D.C., where Trump has extended their deployment through early 2026.
The administration also deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles in June in response to protests against immigration enforcement policies. A federal judge ruled in September that the move had been unlawful and violated a 19th century law that bars soldiers from executing civilian law enforcement.
