Deployments of the US Nationwide Guard to cities throughout the nation have value American taxpayers roughly $600 million, based on new information revealed by the nonpartisan Congressional Funds Workplace (CBO).
The CBO, which for many years has supplied Congress with financial and funds analyses, mentioned Wednesday that to this point upwards of $589 million has been spent by the Trump administration’s deployment of Guard troopers into cities together with Portland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Memphis, in addition to Washington, D.C. CBO estimates that the totality of these deployments, excluding the deployment to New Orleans that occurred on the finish of final 12 months, value roughly $496 million by the tip of December 2025.
Continued deployments at present ranges will value a further $93 million per thirty days, per the CBO. For each extra Guard unit activated sooner or later, the CBO initiatives that prices will enhance by $18-21 million per 1,000 troopers. The Trump administration has stored 200 Nationwide Guard personnel mobilized in Texas after they left Chicago.
“The prices of these or different deployments sooner or later are extremely unsure, primarily as a result of the size, size and placement of such deployments are tough to foretell precisely,” CBO Director Phillip Swagel wrote in a Jan. 28 letter to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), rating member of the Senate Funds Committee. “That uncertainty is compounded by authorized challenges, which have stopped deployments to some cities, and by modifications within the administration’s insurance policies.”
‘Extremely Profitable’ Missions
Navy.com requested the White Home about its satisfaction with the varied Nationwide Guard deployments, and whether or not the prices related have confirmed useful for residents’ morale and causes together with security.
“Due to the Trump Administration’s extremely profitable efforts to drive down violent crime, cities like Memphis and D.C. are a lot safer for residents and guests—with crime dropping throughout all main classes,” White Home spokesperson Abigail Jackson informed Navy.com. “The media ought to speak to people who’re in a position to go about their every day lives with out concern of being assaulted, carjacked or robbed due to the Trump Administration, relatively than amplify ridiculous and unfounded assertions that our efforts should not efficient.”
Merkley, in his personal assertion shared with Navy.com, mentioned “the American folks should know what number of lots of of hundreds of thousands of their hard-earned {dollars} have been and are being wasted on Trump’s reckless and haphazard deployment of Nationwide Guard troops to Portland and cities throughout the nation.”
Navy.com initially reported in October 2025 that Merkley, different Senate Democrats wrote a letter to the CBO, requesting a broad evaluation of the prices of activating, deploying and compensating Nationwide Guard personnel, in addition to the fee to maintain and keep these deployments. This new CBO letter is a response to that inquiry.
Math Behind CBO’s Value Evaluation
On June 7, 2025, President Donald Trump issued a memorandum directing that no less than 2,000 Nationwide Guard personnel be known as into federal service to guard federal authorities personnel and property. That led to about 4,200 Nationwide Guard personnel being activated and deployed to Los Angeles, together with about 700 active-duty members of the Marine Corps. That deployment was largely accomplished by late summer time.
In August, Trump ordered roughly 2,400 Nationwide Guard personnel from the District of Columbia and numerous states to activate and deploy within the nation’s capital. On Nov. 26, U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth—following the taking pictures of two West Virginia Nationwide Guard members within the District—introduced the deployment of a further 500 troopers.
Subsequent deployments included about 1,500 personnel in September to Memphis; about 400 that very same month to Portland; and about 575 personnel, together with 200 from Texas, to Chicago in October.
On Dec. 22, about 350 Nationwide Guard personnel had been deployed to handle crime in New Orleans however are working of their state capability.
That is how the CBO performed its value evaluation of all deployments:
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Prices incurred for primary navy pay and advantages, together with well being care, throughout mobilization.
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Prices to supply lodging for active-duty and Nationwide Guard personnel.
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Prices to supply meals, extra routinely generally known as subsistence.
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Transportation prices to maneuver personnel from their residence stations to their deployments and again once more, along with prices to move personnel between their lodging and their assigned location every day.
Since Nationwide Guard members are known as to federal service, they’re compensated on the identical fee as personnel within the navy’s energetic part, CBO estimates that the rise in navy personnel prices utilizing metrics supplied by the Pentagon’s 2025 funds, the typical enhance in prices when altering Guard personnel from non-mobilized to mobilized standing is roughly $95,000 per individual per 12 months, or $260 per individual per day.
“CBO doesn’t count on the navy to incur important prices to function and keep gear throughout home deployments,” Swagel wrote. “To date, such deployments seem to primarily contain foot patrols performed by small models, with out the in depth kinds of supporting forces or heavy gear related to operations in fight zones.
“Equally, CBO has no foundation for anticipating that the Division of Protection (DoD) might want to buy gear to switch any injury throughout home deployments.”
Swagel mentioned that three major uncertainties exist in analyzing potential future prices of deployments: how lengthy deployments final and after they conclude; the scope, location(s), and the way massive future deployments could possibly be when it comes to personnel; and outcomes from authorized filings in sure states which have challenged preliminary Nationwide Guard deployments.
Deployments Are Trump’s ‘Self-importance Initiatives’
Merkley’s letter final 12 months was co-signed by U.S. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Ron Wyden (D-OR).
Duckworth informed Navy.com that the CBO estimates are even worse than initially anticipated.
“These open-ended, unjustified missions should not simply an immense waste of taxpayer {dollars}; they’re dangerous to our navy’s readiness, morale and assets and create an extremely harmful precedent,” Duckworth mentioned. “Whereas fortunately we’ve seen these deployments stopped in Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, Trump stays obsessive about misusing the navy to intimidate People in their very own communities—along with his deployments in D.C. and Memphis persevering with to value hundreds of thousands of taxpayer {dollars} per thirty days.”
Van Hollen informed Navy.com that the fee related to the deployments is a results of the Trump administration’s “gross abuse of energy.”
On high of that’s the human value borne by native communities and by the troops themselves whose lives have been needlessly upended for Trump’s want to co-opt them as his personal private police drive. – Sen. Van Hollen
Alsobrooks informed Navy.com that People’ well being care wants, for instance, are being supplied much less consideration versus the needs of “a president who’s utilizing the navy for his personal self-importance initiatives and political agenda.”
Warren and U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) launched a report in December, reportedly discovering that DoD dedicated no less than $2 billion to help immigration enforcement by mobilizing and deploying troops to American cities and the Southern border, deporting and transporting immigrants on navy aircrafts, and detaining people on U.S. navy installations, and many others.
“Our navy funds isn’t a slush fund for the president to hold out his political stunts,” Warren informed Navy.com. “Our Nationwide Guard and Marines are wanted to answer pure disasters and nationwide safety threats. Ripping them away from their properties, jobs, and households in pursuit of a merciless immigration agenda is a disrespect to their service.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem and the Trump administration have displayed gross incompetence by deploying out-of-control ICE and CBP brokers in American cities. Our navy should not have any half in it. We want accountability and this administration should reply for losing greater than half-a-billion taxpayer {dollars}.
Final September, Padilla launched the Safeguarding the Use of the Nationwide Guard (SUN) Act, which might require the president to submit a complete report back to Congress inside 15 days of deploying the Nationwide Guard, besides within the case of a pure catastrophe.
“CBO confirmed what we already knew: Donald Trump’s fully pointless Nationwide Guard deployments have value taxpayers lots of of hundreds of thousands of {dollars} and is predicted to value upwards of a billion {dollars} if allowed to proceed,” Padilla informed Navy.com.
“Our servicemembers didn’t signal as much as be immigration enforcement brokers, and so they shouldn’t be used as political pawns by the president,” Padilla added.
