Insisting neither an “insurrection” nor an “invasion” exist in Chicago, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday blasted President Donald Trump’s “unlawful and unwarranted” plans to deploy hundreds of armed military troops to the city.
Addressing the expected deployment at a news conference, Pritzker said Trump wants to “justify and normalize” the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command – and the governor said he “won’t back down” until federal agents conducting immigration enforcement leave the city.
“The Trump administration is following a playbook: cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them,” the governor stated. “Why? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send the military to our city.”
The state of Illinois on Monday filed a lawsuit aiming to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago as part of its agenda to deport criminals and reduce crime, alleging the federalization and deployment of troops is “unconstitutional and/or unlawful.”
Over the weekend, Pritzker announced Trump was “ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon and other locations within the United States,” explaining his office was not contacted about the deployment.
According to a copy of a Pentagon memo first reported by the Chicago Tribune and shared with NBC News by an Illinois official, Trump is also calling at least 300 Illinois National Guard members into service to protect federal buildings and personnel in the state.
Alongside numerous elected officials, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, Brad Schneider and Mike Quigley, among other local leaders, Pritzker emphasized there was “never an insurrection or an invasion” that justified the deployment of the military.
“Donald Trump’s deranged depiction of Chicago as a hellhole, a war zone, and the worst and most dangerous city in the world was just complete BS,” the governor said. “He clearly has decided to declare war on a great American city that has the lowest homicide rate in 60 years, in a state that has record employment and near-record tourism. And he’s done it for some unspoken reason.”
Pritzker previously said Trump’s Department of Defense gave him what he called “an ultimatum” to either call up National Guard members or to have those members nationalized. The Department of Defense hasn’t commented on the “ultimatum.”
The Department of Homeland Security previously requested up to 100 troops to be deployed to Illinois to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) assets and agents, the governor’s office said.
More than 1,000 immigrants have been arrested since an immigration crackdown started last month in the Chicago area, the Department of Homeland Security said.
Some elected officials, along with activists and residents, have alleged tactics used by federal immigration agents sparked violence and fueled neighborhood tensions.
“For weeks now Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino have brought their militarized CBP and agents to the streets of Chicago to cause violence and chaos in the city,” Pritzker said. “They need to stop inciting our city’s residents.”
The governor said the Trump administration’s plan all along has been to cause chaos, which they can use to consolidate the president’s power.
“They think they can fool us all into thinking that the way to get out of this crisis that they created is to give them free rein,” Pritzker stated. “That plan will only work if we let it. The state of Illinois is going to use every lever at our disposal to resist this power grab and get Noem’s thugs the hell out of Chicago. I’m not afraid, I am not afraid, and I won’t back down.”
In a statement, a White House spokesperson said Trump “has exercised his lawful authority.”
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”
The lawsuit against the Trump administration, which Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed Monday, marks the latest legal effort surrounding enforcement efforts in Chicago.
“I’m here to say that the president’s actions are illegal,” the attorney general stated at the news conference alongside Pritzker and other elected officials. “The deployment of the military to Illinois is unlawful and unconstitutional, no matter where these forces come from.”
At an afternoon hearing concerning the lawsuit, a federal judge didn’t issue a temporary restraining order to block National Guard members from being sent to Illinois but did recommend the federal government pause deployments.
During the hearing, which took place at around 2 p.m., lawyers for the federal government said troops were on the way to Illinois and would be in place by Tuesday or Wednesday. While a spokesperson maintained Trump acted legally in the statement above, the White House hasn’t addressed the specifics of the lawsuit.
Trump has said he believes he has the authority to send the National Guard to Chicago despite a California court ruling he overstepped his authority in sending members to Los Angeles during protests and unrest there earlier this year.
Oregon is also attempting to prevent federalized National Guard troops from coming to Portland to address ongoing protests at an immigration processing facility there. Following a legal whirlwind, a federal judge late Sunday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying any National Guard units to Oregon.
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