Illinois urged a judge Thursday to order the National Guard to stand down in the Chicago area, calling the deployment a constitutional crisis and suggesting the Trump administration gave no heed to the pending legal challenge when it sent troops overnight to an immigration enforcement building.
The government “plowed ahead anyway,” attorney Christopher Wells of the state attorney general's office said. “Now, troops are here.”
Wells' arguments opened an extraordinary hearing in federal court in Chicago. The city and the state, run by Democratic elected leaders, say President Donald Trump has exceeded his authority and ignored their pleas to keep the Guard off the streets.
Heavy public turnout at the downtown courthouse caused officials to open an overflow room with a video feed of the hearing.
Feds Say Guard Won't Solve All Crime
U.S. Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton said the Chicago area was rife with “tragic lawlessness.” He noted an incident last weekend in which a Border Patrol vehicle was boxed in and an agent shot a woman in response.
“Chicago is seeing a brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement,” Hamilton said. “They’re not protesters. There is enough that there is a danger of a rebellion here, which there is.”
He said some people were wearing gas masks, a suggestion they were poised for a fight, but U.S. District Judge April Perry countered that it might be justified to avoid tear gas at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview, outside Chicago.
“I, too, would wear a gas mask," the judge said, “not because I’m trying to be violent but because I’m trying to protect myself.”
Hamilton also tried to narrow the issues. He said the Guard's mission would be to protect federal properties and government law enforcers in the field — not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”
Guard on the Ground at ICE Site
Guard members from Texas and Illinois arrived this week at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 are under the U.S. Northern Command and have been activated for 60 days.
Some Guard troops could be seen behind portable fences at the ICE building in Broadview. It has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents, but the scene was peaceful, with few people present.
Police noticed troops apparently sleeping “undisturbed” in vans Wednesday night, Broadview said in a statement.
“We hope that they will extend the same courtesy in the coming days to Broadview residents who deserve a good night’s sleep, too,” the village said.
Democratic Leaders: Trump Is Targeting Rivals
Chicago and Illinois filed a lawsuit Monday to stop the deployments, calling them unnecessary and illegal. Trump has portrayed Chicago as a lawless “hellhole” of crime, though statistics show significant reductions this year.
In a court filing, the city and state say protests at the ICE building in Broadview have “never come close to stopping federal immigration enforcement.”
The deployment “is the latest episode in a broader campaign by the President’s administration to target jurisdictions the President dislikes,” they said.
The Republican president said Wednesday that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, both Democrats, should be jailed for failing to protect federal agents during immigration enforcement crackdowns.
Guard on Court Docket Elsewhere
Also Thursday, a federal appeals court was scheduled to hear arguments over whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where there have been mostly small nightly protests outside an ICE building. Like in Illinois, state and city leaders insist troops are neither wanted nor needed there.
U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut on Sunday granted a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment of Guard troops to Portland. Trump had mobilized California troops for Portland just hours after the judge first blocked him from using Oregon's Guard.
Two dozen other states with a Democratic attorney general or governor signed an appeals court filing in support of the legal challenge by California and Oregon.
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
Trump previously sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington. In Memphis, Tennessee, Mayor Paul Young said Guard members would begin patrolling Friday. Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee supports using the Guard.
Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit, Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia and Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, contributed to this report.
