Texas National Guard troops will be deployed Wednesday evening to the Broadview ICE facility in the west suburbs, a military source told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Details were scant on how many troops would be arriving, but a publicly available mission summary from the U.S. military said about 200 soldiers from various units of the Texas National Guard and about 300 soldiers from various units of the Illinois National Guard had been activated to defend federal immigration agents.
The expected troop deployment came as about 30 protesters gathered outside the Broadview facility in designated free speech zones. The protesters, including several veterans, said they came to voice their opposition to the deployment. Another protest against the deployment was set to begin Wednesday evening in Downtown Chicago.
Texas National Guard members arrived early Tuesday at a military training site in Elwood, about 50 miles from Chicago, ahead of the operation to protect federal immigration agents and facilities. Their arrival came after weeks of threats from President Donald Trump to deploy military troops into Illinois over the vehement objections of Gov. JB Pritzker and other Democratic leaders.
Pritzker said the Texas Guard members were using the federal Joliet-area facility because he has not allowed them to use state facilities.
The troops showed up a day after a federal judge rejected a request from Pritzker and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul to immediately bar the deployment. A hearing on the temporary restraining order sought by Illinois leaders was scheduled for Thursday.
During a White House briefing, Trump said he was considering invoking the Insurrection Act to deploy troops, a move that could bypass the court fight waged by Pritzker and Raoul.
On Wednesday, Trump said Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed for failing to protect federal agents working in the Chicago area.
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