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President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/span> military occupations of American cities have already cost taxpayers half a billion dollars, according to a new report released by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office<\/a>.\u00a0 This unprecedented militarization of America could cost more than $1 billion this year if current domestic deployments continue.<\/p>\n During his second term, Trump has deployed active-duty troops and National Guard members to occupy six Democratic-led cities to quell dissent, assist anti-immigration efforts, protect federal buildings and personnel, or address crime. After repeated setbacks<\/a> in federal courts<\/a> and the Supreme Court\u2019s refusal<\/a> to allow a military occupation of Chicago, the Trump administration withdrew forces from California, Oregon, and Illinois earlier this month. Troops are still deployed in D.C., Memphis, and New Orleans. Two hundred members of the Texas National Guard\u00a0also remain on standby<\/a> for deployment. These ongoing operations will cost $93 million per month in 2026, according to the CBO.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cost of the D.C. occupation<\/a>, alone, is projected to exceed $660 million this year if it runs through December, as is expected by the CBO. While that deployment was supposed to address supposed surging crime, troops were repeatedly tasked with rousting the homeless<\/a>, cleaning up parks<\/a>, and painting over graffiti<\/a>. Trump even advanced baseless claims<\/a> that U.S. forces battled members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua on the streets of the capital. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur military budget is not a slush fund for the President to carry out his political stunts,\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., told The Intercept. \u201cOur National Guard and Marines are needed to respond to natural disasters and national security threats. Ripping them away from their homes, jobs, and families in pursuit of a cruel immigration agenda is a disrespect to their service.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump has previously threatened to surge troops into Baltimore, New York City, Oakland,\u00a0St. Louis<\/a>, San Francisco, and\u00a0Seattle<\/a>\u00a0to put down supposed rebellions and to aid law enforcement agencies, despite\u00a0falling crime numbers\u00a0<\/a>and pushback by local officials. More recently, he threatened to\u00a0invoke the Insurrection Act, again<\/a> \u2014 a rarely used federal law which allows the president to deploy the U.S. military or federalize the National Guard for domestic law enforcement \u2014 to put down protests in Minneapolis<\/a>.<\/p>\n Despite the Trump administration\u2019s unprecedented use of the military within the U.S., it has kept even\u00a0basic details<\/a>\u00a0about domestic troop deployments,\u00a0including the costs<\/a>, secret.<\/p>\n According to the CBO, Trump\u2019s urban occupations cost about $496 million in 2025. That total includes $223 million for the D.C. deployment and $193 million for Los Angeles.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are spending billions to militarize our streets while cutting food aid, healthcare, social services, and labor and environmental protections \u2014 at a time of unparalleled wealth inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n Throughout 2025, The Intercept repeatedly <\/a>provided cost estimates<\/a> of deployments from the National Priorities Project, a nonpartisan research group. The $473 million price tag\u00a0<\/a>derived from open-source information and costs-per-day estimates supplied to The Intercept by the office of Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill, offered in November, closely aligns with the analysis provided on Wednesday by the CBO.<\/p>\n \u201cThe CBO numbers confirm what invaded and over-policed communities have always known \u2014 the U.S. government is invested in control and domination, not caring for people,\u201d said Hanna Homestead of the National Priorities Project, who provided the estimates on the deployment costs. \u201cThey are spending billions to militarize our streets while cutting food aid, healthcare, social services, and labor and environmental protections \u2013 at a time of unparalleled wealth inequality.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n