President Trump announced that National Guard troops will be removed from three major Democrat-led cities, ending months of legal battles with state officials

On New Year's Eve, President Donald Trump declared that his administration would be withdrawing National Guard troops from multiple Democrat-controlled cities he's targeted for federal law enforcement intervention for months.

"We are removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, despite the fact that CRIME has been greatly reduced by having these great Patriots in those cities, and ONLY by that fact," the president posted on Truth Social on Wednesday.

Trump claimed that the cities were "GONE if it weren't for the Federal Government stepping in." He suggested the possibility of troops returning to the cities down the line, "perhaps in a different and stronger form, when crime begins to soar again!"

"It is hard to believe that these Democrat Mayors and Governors, all of whom are greatly incompetent, would want us to leave, especially considering the great progress that has been made? ? ?" the post read, the Express US reported.

In another post, Trump praised the president of the National Border Patrol Council, Paul Perez.

"So proud that more than half are of Hispanic heritage, which Los Angeles' incompetent Mayor, Karen Bass (who hasn't even gotten the permits for people rebuilding their homes after the record-setting fire that took place), and other Third Rate Politicians, are complaining about," he wrote.

The president then bragged about the record-high enlistment numbers of the Border Patrol, stating: "There is no group I am more proud of than Border Patrol and ICE, and nobody understands the Border better than our fantastic Hispanic population, which continues to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

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The announcement followed a prolonged legal dispute between the Trump administration and California Governor Gavin Newsom over control of the National Guard. However, court documents filed with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals revealed that the Department of Justice has retreated from its efforts to retain control of the troops.

"Defendants do not oppose lifting of the partial administrative stay and hereby respectfully withdraw their motion for a stay pending appeal," federal attorneys noted in the brief.

This decision came weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court prevented the Trump administration from deploying troops to Chicago.

The legal conflict between California and the Trump administration started in June when the president dispatched thousands of National Guard members and hundreds of U.S. Marines to Los Angeles in response to protests over federal immigration raids. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer delivered a scathing verdict, commanding Trump to hand back control of roughly 100 troops in Los Angeles to Newsom.

In previous hearings and court documents, the Department of Justice contended that troops must stay under presidential authority indefinitely once federalized and that such directives cannot be challenged by the courts. In his Dec. 10 directive, Breyer branded these contentions "shocking," declaring that such an interpretation would "permit a president to create a perpetual police force comprised of state troops, so long as they were first federalized lawfully."

Newsom's office stated it anticipated an official decision from the 9th Circuit to return the troops to state duty.

"This admission by Trump and his occult cabinet members means this illegal intimidation tactic will finally come to an end," his office posted on X.