Illinois sues to block Trump’s National Guard deployment

Illinois officials sued Monday to stop President Trump from deploying National Guard forces to Chicago, as the administration’s confrontation with Democratic-led states escalated nationwide.

On Saturday, Trump ordered the federalization of 300 Illinois National Guardsmen, over the objection of Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, contending that emergency conditions beyond the control of civilian authorities are impeding the enforcement of federal immigration law.

In the lawsuit, which names both the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago as plaintiffs, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul writes, “Defendants’ deployment of federalized troops to Illinois is patently unlawful.”

He continues, “Plaintiffs ask this court to halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard of the United States, including both the Illinois and Texas National Guard.” 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker confirmed that memo and said he had also been told an additional 400 other National Guard members from Texas would be deployed to Chicago and Portland, Oregon.

In a Monday afternoon news conference, Pritzker repeatedly decried what he called the Trump administration’s “invasion” of Chicago, and said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other administration officials are expanding raids and military-style enforcement actions in order to sow chaos that would then justify the deployment of military troops to Chicago. 

Crime and violence have been a common feature of many Democrat-run cities, especially Chicago. After deployment of federal troops to Washington DC, crime in the city went down.