Politics
National Guard Deployment to Chicago Cost $21M, Congressional Budget Office Says
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
The decision by the Trump administration to send 375 members of the Texas and Illinois National Guard to Chicago cost taxpayers $21 million, according to a new report by the Congressional Budget Office.
In all, President Donald Trump’s decision to send federalized National Guard troops to Chicago; Los Angeles; Washington, D.C.; Memphis; Portland, Oregon; and New Orleans cost approximately $496 million through the end of December, according to the report prepared for U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee.
The president federalized a total of 375 members of the Illinois National Guard and 200 members of the Texas National Guard to Chicago in early October amid a series of increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement actions during what the Trump administration called “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The troops were prevented from deploying into Chicago by a federal judge who ruled that she found “no credible evidence there is a danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois.” That decision was upheld by a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Texas National Guard troops returned home just before Thanksgiving, in what Mayor Brandon Johnson called an “unconditional surrender.”
According to the Congressional Budget Office report, 200 Texas National Guard troops remain under federal authority and mobilized in Texas, at a cost of $4 million per month.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Dec. 23 that Trump did not have the power to deploy the military in Illinois. Shortly afterward, Trump announced he would no longer seek to send troops into Chicago or Portland.
All federalized Illinois National Guard troops were returned to local control on Jan. 21, according to a statement from the U.S. Military’s Northern Command.
U.S. Sen Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) called the National Guard deployment “even more costly and wasteful to Americans than originally estimated.”
“These open-ended, unjustified missions are not just an immense waste of taxpayer dollars, they are harmful to our military’s readiness, morale and resources and create an incredibly dangerous precedent,” Duckworth said.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said the deployment of the National Guard was not only “an abhorrent violation of the Constitution, but it was a harmful diversion of federal resources.”
A spokesperson for Gov. JB Pritzker, who vehemently opposed the deployment of the National Guard into U.S. cities, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the Congressional Budget Office report.
The report analyzed the cost incurred for salary and benefits, lodging, food and transportation.
On average, it cost taxpayers $553 per day per service member to send them to Chicago, according to the report.
The most expensive deployment has been to Washington, D.C., where as many as 2,950 National Guard troops have been on the streets of the nation’s capital since August, at a cost of $223 million, according to the report. That deployment will cost $55 million per month in 2026, according to the report.
It cost taxpayers $193 million to deploy 4,900 federalized National Guard troops and active-duty U.S. Marines to Los Angeles, according to the report.
The Memphis deployment, which came with the support of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, a Republican, cost $33 million through the end of December and will cost an additional $28 million per month in 2026, according to the report.
National Guard troops were also blocked by a court order from deploying into Portland, Oregon. Nevertheless, the president’s order to deploy 400 Oregon and California National Guard troops cost taxpayers $36 million, according to the report.
The report does not include the cost of sending National Guard troops to New Orleans, which started Dec. 22, but estimates that it will cost at least $6 million per month starting this month.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
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