National guard remains in Chicago area as judge to rule on Trump deployment | Chicago
Hundreds of National Guard troops remained in the Chicago area as city and Illinois officials awaited a judge’s decision to halt Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s third-largest city.
It remained unclear exactly where the Trump administration would send troops heading to a military training site southwest of Chicago that was loaded with additional fencing and tarps installed to prevent the public from viewing the installation Wednesday evening.
As they arrived this week, trucks marked Emergency Disaster Services came and went, dropping off portable toilets and other supplies. The trailers were arranged in rows.
“The federal government has not communicated with us in any way regarding their troop movements,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker told reporters. “I can’t believe I have to talk about ‘troop movements’ in an American city, but that’s what we’re talking about here.”
About 500 troops — 200 from the Texas National Guard and 300 from the Illinois National Guard — were mobilized to the city for an “initial period of 60 days,” according to a statement from the U.S. Northern Command, part of the Department of Defense, which called the operation a “federal protection mission.”
Guard members are in the city to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) buildings, as well as other federal facilities and law enforcement personnel, according to Northern Command.
A small number of troops began protecting federal property in the Chicago area, officials told The Associated Press.
Local television broadcast images of uniformed soldiers arriving early Thursday morning at an ice processing plant in suburban Broadview, which has become a center of protest. They carried shields and what appeared to be luggage.
In a statement, the village of Broadview said three vans carrying 45 members of the Texas National Guard arrived at the federal building.
“During their patrols, Broadview police officers observed the vans parked in the rear of 2000 25th Ave and all the guards were sleeping. We let them sleep peacefully. We hope they will extend the same courtesy in the coming days to the residents of Broadview who also deserve a good night’s sleep,” the release said.
While the deployment is part of a crackdown threatened by Trump, in response to unsubstantiated claims that major Democratic-led cities are overwhelmed by crime, the stated mission says the military “will conduct ground activities to protect federal functions, personnel and assets.”
This is Trump’s fourth deployment of National Guard troops to the streets of a major US city in as many months, following deployments in Los Angeles, Washington DC and Memphis. In every case except Memphis, it happened against the wishes of state and city leaders.
Trump has repeatedly described Chicago in hostile terms, calling it a crime “hell,” although police statistics show a significant decline in most crimes, including homicides.
A judge will also have a role in determining how many boots are on the streets: A court hearing will be held Thursday following a request from Illinois and Chicago to declare the deployment of guards illegal. Elsewhere, an appeals court scheduled a hearing the same day on the government’s desire to send the guard to Portland, Oregon. A judge blocked that effort this weekend.
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus law limits the military’s role in enforcing national laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send active-duty military personnel to states that are unable to quell an insurrection or that defy federal law.
“This is about authoritarianism. This is about stoking fear,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “It’s about breaking the constitution that would give him even more control over our American cities.”
Meanwhile, Trump sent barbs from Washington, saying on social media that Pritzker and Johnson, both Democrats, “should be in jail” for failing to protect federal agents during the immigration crackdown.
Asked about Trump’s desire to imprison him, Pritzker of downtown Chicago held out his arms and told MSNBC: “If you’re coming for my people, you’re coming through me. So come get me.”
Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the department is “doubling down” by purchasing buildings in Chicago — and also in Portland — for Ice personnel to operate.
“We’re buying more buildings in Chicago to operate in. We’re not going to back down,” she said. “In fact, we’re doubling our efforts and we’re going to be in more neighborhoods in Chicago in response to the people there.”
Meanwhile, in Memphis, Tennessee, a small group of troops was assisting the Memphis Safe Task Force on Wednesday, said a state military department spokesman who did not specify the exact role or number of guard members. The task force is a collection of a dozen federal law enforcement agencies charged by Donald Trump with fighting crime.
Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, who has welcomed the Guard, previously said he would not expect more than 150 Guard members to be sent to the city.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
