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 Trump’s deployment plans and called it an abuse of power. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said Trump was “attempting to manufacture a crisis”.
The announcement came as a federal judge in Portland, Oregon – another liberal city – temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying 200 troops there.
Judge Karin Immergut called Trump’s statements about conditions in Portland “untethered to the facts,” and said the move violated the Constitution.
She said the use of the military to quell unrest without the state of Oregon consenting risks the sovereignty of that state and others. Immergut ruled that the administration’s arguments for the deployment “risk blurring the line between civil and military federal power – to the detriment of this nation”.
It’s likely that a legal challenge will also be filed over any deployment in Chicago. It’s unclear whether any troops have yet been deployed in the Democratic city.
It’s unclear whether any troops have yet been mobilised after Trump’s authorisation [Getty Images]
The city is the latest – many of them led by Democrats – to be targeted for a controversial deployment of troops, joining Washington, Los Angeles, Memphis, Tennessee and Portland.
Chicago has seen an increase in protests over immigration enforcement in the city, many of them happening outside US Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like [Gov] Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”
On Saturday – just before Trump authorised troops there – US Border Patrol personnel shot a woman after a group of people rammed cars into immigration enforcement vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement. The woman was armed, the statement said.
The woman’s injuries were unclear. DHS said she drove herself to a local hospital.
