Washington– High-level Trump administration Deployment of federal forces in six American cities It has cost taxpayers nearly $496 million through the end of December, and continuing the rollout could cost more than $1 billion for the rest of the year, according to new data from the nonpartisan Center. Congressional Budget Office.
President Donald Trump justified his sending National Guard forces To US cities as part of efforts to combat crime and support local law enforcement. Critics of the move say the deployments undermine state and local authority and exceed the president’s authority under the Constitution.
The Congressional Budget Office released new data estimating the costs associated with federal deployments of the National Guard and active-duty Marines after a request from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
“The American people deserve to know how many hundreds of millions of hard-earned dollars have been wasted and are being wasted on Trump’s reckless and indiscriminate deployment of National Guard troops to Portland and cities across the country,” Merkley said in a statement about the Congressional Budget Office report.
These estimates take into account troop deployments in Chicago, Memphis, and Portland, as well Los Angeles In June, when demonstrators took to the streets in response to a campaign of immigration arrests. The Congressional Budget Office said continuing deployments in those cities would cost about $93 million per month.
This estimate does not include the army’s deployment in December New Orleans.
And for more potential deployments down the road, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that deploying 1,000 National Guard members to a US city in 2026 would cost between $18 million to $21 million per month, depending on the local cost of living.
National Guard forces It is expected to remain widespread in Washington throughout 2026, according to a memo reviewed by The Associated Press earlier this month.
The deployment has sparked legal challenges from local leaders, some of which have been successful. A federal judge in California ruled in January that the Trump administration “willfully” violated federal law by sending… National Guard units To the Los Angeles area.
A White House representative did not immediately comment on the estimates.