U.S. President Donald Trump. AFP Yonhap News

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on the 31st (local time) that he would withdraw National Guard troops deployed to combat crime in major cities led by Democratic mayors, including Chicago in Illinois, Los Angeles (LA) in California, and Portland in Oregon.

Trump stated on his social media platform, Truth Social, "We are withdrawing the National Guard from Chicago, LA, and Portland, even though crime has been greatly reduced by the presence of these great patriots."

He added, "Without federal intervention, Portland, LA, and Chicago would have disappeared. If crime starts to surge again, we will return in a much different and stronger form. It's only a matter of time."

"Considering the great progress that has been made, it is hard to believe that the very incompetent Democratic mayors and governors wanted us to leave," Trump added.

This is understood to mean that while military forces may be redeployed in the future, attempts to deploy troops in these cities will be halted for the time being.

Trump's decision is interpreted as a consequence of federal courts repeatedly blocking his deployments of the National Guard, and most recently, even the conservative-leaning Supreme Court did not rule in his favor.

The Supreme Court had on the 23rd dismissed an emergency request from the Trump administration to overturn a lower court's order prohibiting the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago until a final ruling could be made.

According to the Associated Press, the National Guard deployed to LA since June has already withdrawn from the streets, and in the cases of Chicago and Portland, troops were dispatched but did not actually engage in street patrols.

Currently, the National Guard has been deployed in three cities: Washington D.C., New Orleans in Louisiana, and Memphis in Tennessee, according to the New York Times (NYT).