Texas National Guard members arrive in Illinois; sources say troops could begin assignments Wednesday

The members of the Texas National Guard began to arrive in an American army reserve center located in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, where they should participate in training before being sent on a mission to protect agents and American immigration and customs facilities.

On Tuesday afternoon, the CBS News teams in Chicago spotted soldiers from the National Guard dressed in camouflage with Les Garde National Guard of Texas walking around the training center of the American army reserve in Elwood, near Joliet, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.

Several caravans have been arranged as temporary accommodation. Several soldiers were seen move in with bags filled with goods; Some holding rifles and folding chairs, possibly for meetings or other training. A fence was also installed around the establishment Tuesday evening.

The retired major-general of the American army Richard Hayes was the highest member of the Illinois National Guard. During his career over 30, he said that he had never seen a national guard of another federalized state and then sent to another state.

“It’s new. It doesn’t mean it’s necessarily illegal, it’s just different,” he said. “Regarding soldiers, the Illinois National Guard, even the Texas National Guard, they do not have their say as to whether or not they go. It is not a political organization, they are right to do what they are asked to do.”

State representative Larry Walsh Jr. said he learned on Monday evening that the Elwood site would be the troop attachment base.

“It’s a lot of political theater,” he said. “There is a whole disconnection in communication between federal and local governments.”

If it were federal, the National Guard would receive its orders from the federal government and not from the State.

“If the courts later declare that it is not appropriate or that it is not legal, then they will retire,” said Hayes.

“I would ask the federal government and the administration, go … just start working as adults,” said Walsh Jr.

About 200 members of the Texas National Guard will be deployed in Chicago this week, sources close to the file told CBS.

The members of the Texas National Guard are expected to start their missions in Chicago on Wednesday, after having received an operational thesis, before an hearing before the Federal Court Thursday on a prosecution brought by the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago, which seek to block the deployment of troops.

State and local leaders said they had been largely in ignorance about the deployment of troops and had not received any details on the troop mission.

Will’s Director of Will, Jennifer Bertin-Tarrant, said a democrat, said her office had not been informed by the Trump administration of the deployment of the National Guard in Elwood, including the number of soldiers stationed there or the duration of the operation.

“The arrival of the National Guard by the Trump administration is an excessive and aggressive measure. Our federal government which sends armed troops to our community should alarm everyone,” she said in a statement. “I will coordinate with local leaders to make sure we do everything in our power to protect the rights of our residents and everyone’s security. I hope that Thursday’s audience before the Federal Court will end this attack on our community.”

The Illinois National Guard also received the order to run for training on Tuesday, even if it is not clear if it will also be stationed in Elwood.

The Trump administration said that members of the National Guard would be assigned to the protection of federal facilities and federal staff responsible for the application of laws, including ICE facilities located in BroadView, in the western suburbs of Chicago, and in downtown Chicago.

Monday evening, the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, posted a photo to X with the following legend: “The Texas National Guard of Elite. Always ready. Deployment now.” The photo shows members of the Texas National Guard rising aboard an aircraft.

Sunday evening, the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, said that President Trump had ordered National guard members of Texas be deployed in Illinois.

In a statement, Pritzker said that 400 members of the Texas National Guard would be deployed in Illinois, Oregon and other places in the United States.

While the members of the Texas National Guard arrived in Illinois, the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson – who fiercely opposed the deployment – was questioned about their mission.

“There is a process that the National Guard follows before being really released in the streets of Chicago or elsewhere,” he said. “But what is really disturbing in all of this is that the national guard has no police authority or any police power. This is not why it is formed.”

While a federal judge of the West Coast approved a temporary ban order preventing troops from the National Guard of Texas from deploying in Portland, Oregon, a Federal Judge of Chicago refused to immediately grant a similar request to stop the deployment in Illinois. The judge provided for a hearing on Thursday to rule on the request to block the deployment.

Sunday, a Memo obtained by CBS News from the Pentagon called for the sending of hundreds of soldiers from the National Guard to Illinois. Pritzker said on Saturday that the Trump administration intended to Federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard After he was placed an ultimatum on the deployment of troops. The ultimatum launched by the Trump administration, according to Pritzker, was “calling your troops, or we will do it”.

The members of the Illinois National Guard should not be ready to be deployed before Thursday’s hearing, sources said. These staff will follow additional training, including training on civilian disorders in the coming days, and will be awarded the necessary protective equipment.

“Calling the Texas National Guard is really a vast overtaking on the part of the federal government here,” said the former Warrant Officer of the Illinois National Guard. “Said General William Eyart.

Eyart said that without roots in Chicago and without a nuanced understanding of the region, the troops of another state would be seriously disadvantaged.

“Bringing someone 1,600 kilometers away, which has none of these contacts, which has no developed network, is absolutely a danger to public security,” he said.

Pritzker has repeatedly refused to call custody during the period of strengthening immigration controls, which the federal government has nicknamed “Operation Midway Blitz”. Pritzker also accused The Trump administration, the secretary of the Department of Internal Security Kristi Noem and the Customs Commander and the Gregory Bovino border protection to have intentionally sown chaos in order to justify the deployment.

The team of the Attorney General of Illinois And prosecutors of the city of Chicago will be returned to the Federal Court next Thursday to try to stop the mobilization of the troops.

Meanwhile, lawyers in the village of BroadView, which houses an ICE treatment center which aroused strong protests and clashes, were to appear before a judge on Tuesday to plead in favor of the withdrawal of a fence that the federal government erected outside an ICE installation on Beach Street on BroadView.

They said the federal government had not obtained a license for the closure and that it was illegal to block a public road. The judge in charge of the case said that he would decide on the village to demolish the closure in the coming days.

The mayor of BroadView, Katrina Thompson, could also be the subject of legal proceedings soon concerning a protest curfew that she decreed on Monday evening. She said that village resources cannot follow the repeated demonstrations in front of the ICE treatment center, so she limits the rallies between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

“Be clear, I will always support the first amendment and the right of people to demonstrate peacefully,” said Thompson on Monday. “But as mayor, I must also balance the law with the security and well-being of residents of BroadView and businesses.”

Nicole Sganga contributed to this report.