WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump called on Democratic mayors and governors to allow federal troops to deploy to their cities to stop crime during a Cabinet meeting on March 26, 2026. He told his top advisors that crime had dropped in areas with federal security presence and suggested similar deployments could benefit cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

"Crime is down 75% in a short period of time," Trump told his top advisors. "We could do that for L.A. and we could do that for, frankly, San Francisco."

The president credited the visible security presence near federal buildings in Washington, D.C., with improving public safety. He said that federal authorities can remove people from cities in ways local officials cannot.

Trump's comments came after courts ruled against previous deployments of federalized troops by his administration. In June 2025, he had ordered immigration raids and deployed thousands of federal troops to Los Angeles for a security operation. The deployment included approximately 4,000 California National Guardsmen and 700 U.S. Marines.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned that deployment. "Deploying federalized troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation," Bass said. "The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real — it's felt in our communities and within our families, and it puts our neighborhoods at risk. This is the last thing that our city needs."

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer subsequently ruled that control of the California National Guard should be returned to the governor. President Trump ended the federalized deployment of troops in California after Judge Breyer's ruling. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling later ended federalized troop deployments across the country.

Regarding San Francisco, he said that Mayor Daniel Lurie is trying very hard to address crime, but that federal intervention would achieve results faster. In 2025, Trump had considered carrying out federal law enforcement operations in San Francisco but decided against it after a phone call with Lurie, agreeing to give the mayor a chance to address crime in the city.

In January 2026, following the fatal shooting of Renee Good by a federal immigration agent, President Trump had threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Minneapolis. The Pentagon prepared active-duty troops for possible deployment to Minneapolis, but the troops were ordered to stand down following the shooting of a second Minneapolis civilian, Alex Pretti, in January 2026.