In United States, hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas have arrived at an army training centre outside Chicago to support US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Large scale protests in Chicago had been gong on against federal immigration officials.
Trump has already sent guard members into Los Angeles and Washington, DC. The deployments have posed both legal and constitutional questions, as National Guard troops are typically deployed by a state’s governor and century-limit the government’s use of the military for domestic matters.
Texas national guard troops have arrived in the Chicago area, marking an escalation of Donald Trump’s crackdown on the city.
Chicago has already seen a ramping up of immigration enforcement in the past few weeks, as well as increasingly violent altercations in the suburb of Broadview, where law enforcement has been filmed deploying tear gas and pepper gas against protestors.
The latest military presence comes after April Perry, a US district judge, declined to immediately block troops from entering the city amid a pending lawsuit from the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago against the Trump administration’s actions.
Kwame Raoul, the Illinois attorney general, had filed the lawsuit on Monday in order to stop Trump from enlisting the state’s national guard or sending in troops from other states such as Texas “immediately and permanently”.
But after Perry’s ruling, the troops were mobilized on Monday, and multiple outlets, including the Chicago Tribune and New York Times confirmed they were remaining in the Chicago area on Tuesday.
Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s mayor, also signed an executive order banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents from operating on city-owned properties, the third executive order attempting to limit the power of Ice agents in the city since Trump first signaled the deployment.
“City property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids,” said Johnson during the order’s signing on Monday. “The fact is, we cannot allow them to rampage throughout our city with no checks or balances. Nobody is above the law … if Congress will not check this administration, then Chicago will.”
The White House accused the mayor of “aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, traffickers, and gang bangers”, Newsweek reported.
Illinois officials have long condemned the Trump administration’s plans for a federal takeover. Pritzker previously called on “all to stand up” to Trump in the face of the intervention during an interview with CBS News in September.
“Any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency,” said Pritzker, adding: “I’m going to do everything I can to stop him from taking away people’s rights and from using the military to invade states.”
Johnson has also vociferously condemned the planned intervention since it was first signaled. During a Labor Day rally, he said: “We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.”
Illinois senator Dick Durbin condemned the move in a statement issued as troops arrived in the state.
“Deploying the Texas national guard, over the objections of Illinois elected officials, is not only unnecessary, but it is also unlawful,” he said. “National guard personnel do not deserve to be used as political pawns in President Trump’s political theater.”
Trump had been signaling the federal intervention in Chicago, amid his targeting of Democratic-led cities for expanded federal enforcement of immigration laws.
Trump has repeatedly attempted to deploy federal troops to Portland, but a federal judge blocked his latest efforts on Sunday. Tina Kotek, Oregon’s governor, has denounced any military intervention in the state as a “threat to our democracy” as well as a “wake-up call” for other state officials, in recent comments to NPR.
In June, the Trump administration deployed national guard troops in Los Angeles, where Ice agents conducted large-scale raids. Trump also deployed thousands of national guard troops and sent federal agents to Washington DC in August, as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital.
Trump has said the moves are necessary to help with immigration enforcement and fight crime. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders locally and around the country have pointed out that crime levels are generally falling.
Texas national guard troops have arrived in the Chicago area, marking an escalation of Donald Trump’s crackdown on the city.
Chicago has already seen a ramping up of immigration enforcement in the past few weeks, as well as increasingly violent altercations in the suburb of Broadview, where law enforcement has been filmed deploying tear gas and pepper gas against protestors.
The latest military presence comes after April Perry, a US district judge, declined to immediately block troops from entering the city amid a pending lawsuit from the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago against the Trump administration’s actions.
Kwame Raoul, the Illinois attorney general, had filed the lawsuit on Monday in order to stop Trump from enlisting the state’s national guard or sending in troops from other states such as Texas “immediately and permanently”.
But after Perry’s ruling, the troops were mobilized on Monday, and multiple outlets, including the Chicago Tribune and New York Times confirmed they were remaining in the Chicago area on Tuesday.
Brandon Johnson, Chicago’s mayor, also signed an executive order banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents from operating on city-owned properties, the third executive order attempting to limit the power of Ice agents in the city since Trump first signaled the deployment.
“City property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids,” said Johnson during the order’s signing on Monday. “The fact is, we cannot allow them to rampage throughout our city with no checks or balances. Nobody is above the law … if Congress will not check this administration, then Chicago will.”
The White House accused the mayor of “aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, traffickers, and gang bangers”, Newsweek reported.
Illinois officials have long condemned the Trump administration’s plans for a federal takeover. Pritzker previously called on “all to stand up” to Trump in the face of the intervention during an interview with CBS News in September.
“Any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency,” said Pritzker, adding: “I’m going to do everything I can to stop him from taking away people’s rights and from using the military to invade states.”
Johnson has also vociferously condemned the planned intervention since it was first signaled. During a Labor Day rally, he said: “We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.”
Illinois senator Dick Durbin condemned the move in a statement issued as troops arrived in the state.
“Deploying the Texas national guard, over the objections of Illinois elected officials, is not only unnecessary, but it is also unlawful,” he said. “National guard personnel do not deserve to be used as political pawns in President Trump’s political theater.”
Trump had been signaling the federal intervention in Chicago, amid his targeting of Democratic-led cities for expanded federal enforcement of immigration laws.
Trump has repeatedly attempted to deploy federal troops to Portland, but a federal judge blocked his latest efforts on Sunday. Tina Kotek, Oregon’s governor, has denounced any military intervention in the state as a “threat to our democracy” as well as a “wake-up call” for other state officials, in recent comments to NPR.
In June, the Trump administration deployed national guard troops in Los Angeles, where Ice agents conducted large-scale raids. Trump also deployed thousands of national guard troops and sent federal agents to Washington DC in August, as part of his unprecedented law enforcement takeover of the nation’s capital.
Trump has said the moves are necessary to help with immigration enforcement and fight crime. Meanwhile, Democratic leaders locally and around the country have pointed out that crime levels are generally falling.
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The troops are stationed at the Army Reserve center in Elwood, outside of Joliet, Illinois, about an hour southwest of Chicago.
“These forces will protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” U.S. Northern Command said in its statement.
On Monday, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago sued to block the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago.
In a statement Sunday, ahead of the National Guard’s arrival, Pritzker said, “We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion.”
“It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” he said in the statement.
“The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props,” he said. “This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness.”
President Donald Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “should be in jail” in an escalation of his conflict with the two Democratic officials.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” he said in the post. “Governor Pritzker also!”
Trump has threatened for weeks to send troops to Chicago as part of a crime-fighting and immigration effort, and Democrats have pushed back and said any deployment would be politically motivated against his perceived enemies and an overreach of authority.
NBC News has reached out to the White House for further comment.
Pritzker responded to the president in a post to X, saying, “I will not back down.”
“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” he said. “What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
Reached for comment, Johnson said that “this is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he added.
The Trump administration is also seeking to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, but a judge granted a temporary restraining order this week to block the move as the case is considered in court.
A Pentagon spokesperson said that the troops would have worked to support ICE and other federal personnel, as well as protect federal property.
On Tuesday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek directed U.S. Northern Command to demobilize Oregon’s 200 National Guard troops and return another 200 California National Guard members to their state.
Referencing the judge’s decision temporarily blocking Trump from sending the National Guard into Portland, Kotek said in a statement, “Judge Karin J. Immergut’s orders are a clear and forceful rebuttal to President Trump’s misuse of states’ National Guard.”
“Thus, I am directing Northern Command to send Oregon’s citizen-soldiers home from Camp Rilea immediately,” Kotek said. “Let’s remember that these Oregonians are our neighbors and friends, who have been unlawfully uprooted from their family and careers — they deserve better than this.”
It was unclear if Kotek’s letter to U.S. Northern Command would have any effect. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News regarding legal standing for directing U.S. Northern Command to send troops home. NBC News also reached out to U.S. Northern Command for comment.
The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to block Immergut’s order while the case makes its way through the courts, arguing her ruling “improperly impinges on the Commander in Chief’s supervision of military operations, countermands a military directive to officers in the field, and endangers federal personnel and property.”
Attorneys for the state contend her order should stay in place. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear both sides’ arguments at a hearing Thursday.