About 200 Texas National Guard troops are set to deploy to Chicago on Monday night unless a judge blocks the order, a Pentagon official told Military Times.
Illinois officials sued the Trump administration Monday for its attempt to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Chicago for federal protection missions.
According to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, President Donald Trump has activated hundreds of Texas National Guard troops and federalized 300 Illinois National Guard troops for duty in Illinois despite the governor’s objections.
Speaking at a press conference Monday, Pritzker said the troops are not needed in Chicago and labeled the order “Trump’s invasion.” He said federal agents were shooting rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protesters to “incite” residents and provide Trump the pretext to invoke the Insurrection Act.
“There is no invasion here. There is no insurrection here. … The folks in the neighborhoods do not want armed troops marching in their streets,” he said at the conference.
Multiple people have been arrested in recent days for ramming vehicles into DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents’ cars and blocking federal law enforcement officers.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called acts like these “domestic terrorism.”
“ICE officers should not have to live in fear of violence to do their jobs,” he told CNN in an interview Monday.
Chicago Police Department Superintendent Larry Snelling stressed Monday that law enforcement would continue to step in to protect federal officials when citizens break the law, such as when protesters box in ICE officers who are trying to do their jobs.
“If you box them in domestically with vehicles, it is reasonable for them to believe that they are being ambushed and that this could end in a deadly situation, and it’s reasonable for them to use force based on those conditions. Do not box in any law enforcement officer,” he said.
Snelling also responded to critics that said officers had either delayed or not deployed police to help federal officials in the city over the weekend, saying that 27 officers who were at the scene of a protest had been affected by chemical agents used by federal officers.
He said that city police frequently work with federal officers to stop human trafficking, drug smuggling and gun violence, but they are not allowed to help with immigration enforcement due to a local law known as the Trust Act.
“The Trust Act prohibits law enforcement in the state of Illinois from engaging in assisting federal agents when it comes to immigration enforcement. We abide by that law,” he said.
Protesters have pointed to violent behavior from ICE officials, who have conducted overnight raids in Chicago apartments. One ICE agent shot and killed a Mexican immigrant last month in the Chicago suburb of Franklin Park after he dropped his kids off at daycare.
ICE initially said one officer was “seriously injured” during the deadly incident, but the Chicago Sun Times has reported the agent said his injuries were “nothing major” in body camera footage from local police.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott wrote on X Sunday that he had “fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.”
The administration has teased deploying the National Guard to Chicago for several weeks to help with multiple missions. Last month, the president repeatedly said he would use the Guard to fight crime in the city.
“We’re going in. I didn’t say when. We’re going in,” Trump said at the White House on Sept. 2.
“Chicago is a hellhole right now,” he added.
Chicago ranks 13th in total crime rates for American cities with populations of at least 250,000, with Memphis, Cleveland and St. Louis plagued with the highest total crime rates, according to FBI crime data.
Even as Chicago’s crime rates are down across the board this year, dozens of people were shot and at least seven people were killed in the city in a surge of violence over the Labor Day weekend.
Portland orders paused
A federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon, after the administration made multiple attempts to mobilize troops there.
The president had ordered California National Guard troops to Portland on Sunday after the same judge blocked him from using Oregon’s National Guard the day before.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, granted a temporary restraining order sought by California and Oregon.
“How could bringing in federalized National Guard from California not be in direct contravention to the temporary restraining order I issued yesterday?” she asked the federal government’s attorney.
Stephen Miller called the ruling “Legal insurrection” on X.
“The President is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, not an Oregon judge. Portland and Oregon law enforcement, at the direction of local leaders, have refused to aid ICE officers facing relentless terrorist assault and threats to life,” he wrote.
The administration’s stance conflicts with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s comments about federalizing the Guard during the Biden administration.
In February 2024, while governor of South Dakota, Noem posted on X that it would be a “direct attack on states’ rights” if the Biden administration federalized South Dakota’s National Guard to stop them from performing duties at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“If [Biden] is willing to do that, and to take away my authority as governor as commander in chief of those National Guard, boy, we do have a war on our hands,” Noem told Fox News that same month.
