Chicago is the latest city in the US where the US president has authorised a deployment – with similar orders for Los Angeles, Washington and Portland.
US President Donald Trump has authorised the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago to address what he says is out-of-control crime.
The move came hours after immigration authorities said they faced off with protesters in the Democrat-run city and shot an armed woman when she and others rammed their cars into law enforcement vehicles.
State and local leaders have for weeks criticised President Trump’s deployment plans and called it an abuse of power. Illinois’ Democrat Governor JB Pritzker said President Trump was attempting to manufacture a crisis.
Earlier, the US Department of Homeland Security said that Border Patrol agents shot an armed woman in Chicago amid scores of protesters demonstrating against federal immigration agents on the city’s southwest side.
The incident took place in Chicago’s suburb of Broadview, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility’s office is situated. A statement by the homeland department’s spokesperson said that no law enforcement officials were seriously injured in the incident.
The statement added that the incident involved a group of protesters, including the woman ramming cars into vehicles used by US ICE.
ICE agents fired pepper spray and loaded rubber bullets as part of the confrontation with the protesters in Chicago. US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, in a social media post said, she was sending additional special operations to control the situation in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
Protests have intensified in Chicago and other Democratic-led cities, with previous clashes involving ICE using force against detainee transport blockades. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Portland, Oregon – another liberal city – temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying 200 troops there.
Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 300 National Guard members to Chicago, the latest in a string of cities where US troops have been sent.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson confirmed the US president authorised the move, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.
“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” Ms Jackson said.
Chicago is the latest city in the US where Mr Trump has authorised the deployment of US troops, as it follows similar orders for Los Angeles, Washington and Portland.
Democratic governor JB Pritzker branded the move unnecessary and “a manufactured performance – not a serious effort to protect public safety”.
The Illinois governor said in a statement: “This morning, the Trump administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will.
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
It comes as an attempt by the Trump administration to deploy the National Guard in Portland, Oregon, was temporarily blocked by a federal judge in a lawsuit brought by the state and city.
The plaintiffs said a deployment would violate the US constitution as well as a federal law that generally prohibits the military from being used to enforce domestic laws.
Mr Trump ordered the deployment of troops to “war-ravaged Portland” last week, authorising the use of “full force” if needed.
The move came after a gunman opened fire on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in Dallas, wounding two detainees and killing another.
Mr Trump sent the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and to Washington DC, as part of his law enforcement takeover there.