National guard remains in Chicago area as judge to rule on Trump deployment | Chicago

Hundreds of national guard troops remained in the Chicago area as city and Illinois officials awaited a judge’s decision to halt Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s third-largest city.

It was still unclear where specifically the Trump administration would send its troops, who reported late Wednesday evening to an Army training ground in southwest Chicago that was outfitted with extra fencing and tarps to prevent the public from viewing the facility.

When they arrived this week, trucks labeled Emergency Disaster Services rolled in and out, dropping off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were placed in rows.

“The federal government has not communicated with us at all about the movements of its troops,” Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker told reporters. “I can’t believe I have to say ‘unity movements’ in an American city, but that’s what we’re talking about here.”

Approximately 500 soldiers – 200 from the Texas national guard and 300 from the Illinois national guard – They were mobilized into the city “initially for 60 days”According to the statement made by the US Northern Command affiliated with the Department of Defense, it described the operation as a “federal protection mission”.

According to Northern Command, security officers are in the city to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) buildings and other federal facilities and law enforcement personnel.

A small number of troops have begun protecting federal property in the Chicago area, officials told The Associated Press.

Local television broadcast footage of uniformed troops arriving at the ice processing plant in the Broadview suburb that has been the focus of protests early Thursday morning. They were carrying shields and what appeared to be luggage.

In the statement made by Broadview Village, it was stated that three minibuses carrying 45 people from the Texas National Guard reached the federal building.

“During their patrol, Broadview police officers observed pickup trucks parked behind 2000 25th Street and all the guards were sleeping. We allowed them to remain undisturbed. We hope they will extend the same courtesy to Broadview residents who deserve a good night’s sleep in the coming days,” the statement said.

The deployment comes as part of a crackdown threatened by Trump in response to unsubstantiated claims that major cities run by Democrats are crime-ridden, while the stated mission said the military will “conduct ground activities to protect federal functions, personnel and property.”

This marks Trump’s fourth deployment of national guard troops to the streets of a major US city in as many months, following deployments in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Memphis. In all cases except Memphis, this happened against the wishes of state and city leaders.

Trump has repeatedly described Chicago in hostile terms, calling it a crime “hell,” but police statistics show significant declines in most crimes, including murders.

A judge will also have a role in determining how many boats are on the streets: A court hearing was being held Thursday on a request to declare Illinois and Chicago’s deployment of guards illegal.

The state of Illinois asked federal judge April Perry to order the National Guard to withdraw from duty in the Chicago area, calling the deployment a constitutional crisis. Attorney Christopher Wells said the government “nevertheless continues to move forward.” “The soldiers are here now.”

Wells’ allegations set off an extraordinary trial at the downtown Chicago courthouse in which intense public participation led authorities to open an overflow room containing a video feed of the hearing.

Justice Department attorney Eric Hamilton said the Chicago area is rife with “tragic lawlessness.” He pointed to an incident last weekend where a Border Patrol vehicle was pinned down and an agent shot a woman in response.

But in a court filing, city and state attorneys said the protests at the Ice building in Broadview “never came close to stopping federal immigration enforcement.”

“The President is using the Broadview protests as an excuse,” they wrote. “The upcoming federal troop deployment to Illinois is the latest chapter in the president’s administration’s broader campaign to target areas the president dislikes.”

Elsewhere, an appeals court scheduled a hearing the same day on the government’s request to send the guard to Portland, Oregon. A judge blocked that effort over the weekend.

The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. But Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to send active-duty military into states that fail to quell an insurrection or defy federal law.

“This is about authoritarianism. It’s about stoking fear,” said Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson. “This is about violating the constitution, which will give him more control over our American cities.”

Trump, meanwhile, sent harsh criticism from Washington on social media, saying Pritzker and Johnson, both Democrats, “should go to jail” for failing to protect federal agents during a crackdown on immigration enforcement.

Asked if Trump wanted to jail him, Pritzker in downtown Chicago held out his arms and told MSNBC: “If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me.”

Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the department is “doubling down” by purchasing buildings in Chicago (and also in Portland) for Ice personnel to operate from.

“We are purchasing more buildings to operate in Chicago. We will not back down,” he said. “We’re actually doubling that number and will be in more parts of Chicago in response to the people there.”

Also in Memphis, Tennessee, a small group of soldiers assisted the Memphis Secure Task Force on Wednesday, a state military department spokesman said, without specifying the exact role or number of guard members. The task force is a combination of nearly a dozen federal law enforcement agencies that Donald Trump has tapped to fight crime.

Welcoming the Guard, Tennessee’s Republican governor, Bill Lee, had previously said he expected no more than 150 Guard members to be sent to the city.

The Associated Press contributed to this report