Trump vs States Intensifies as Texas National Guard Arrives in Chicago

Texas National Guard troops have arrived in the Chicago area, marking an escalation of federal enforcement efforts under President Donald Trump. The deployment comes amid federal troop enforcement in the city following clashes in Broadview, where law enforcement officers have used tear gas and pepper spray against protestors. The military presence comes after US District Judge April Perry declined to immediately block troops from entering the city amid a pending lawsuit filed by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago. The lawsuit, filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Monday, seeks to prevent the immediate and permanent deployment of the state’s National Guard or troops from other states, such as Texas. Following Perry’s ruling, troops were mobilised on Monday and remained in the Chicago area on Tuesday, according to reports from the Chicago Tribune and New York Times.Also Read: Illinois Takes Trump to Court Over National Guard Deployment Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has issued an executive order prohibiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from operating on city-owned properties. This is the third such order aimed at limiting ICE’s authority in the city since Trump first signalled the deployment. “City property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids,” Johnson said on Monday. “The fact is, we cannot allow them to rampage throughout our city with no checks or balances. Nobody is above the law … if Congress will not check this administration, then Chicago will.” The White House has accused the mayor of “aiding and abetting criminal illegal immigrant killers, rapists, traffickers, and gang bangers,” according to Newsweek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U74QFEjSQygGovernor JB Pritzker has also criticised the federal intervention, arguing that troops do not belong on American streets “unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency.” He added: “I’m going to do everything I can to stop him from taking away people’s rights and from using the military to invade states.” Johnson has previously condemned the planned federal intervention, telling a Labor Day rally: “We’re going to defend our democracy in the city of Chicago. We’re going to protect the humanity of every single person in the city of Chicago.” The deployment is part of Trump’s broader initiative to expand federal enforcement of immigration laws in Democratic-led cities. The president has attempted similar interventions in Portland, Oregon, but a federal judge blocked his latest efforts there on Sunday. Oregon Governor Tina Kotek criticised the move as a “threat to our democracy” and a “wake-up call” for other state officials. Earlier this year, the Trump administration deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, where ICE agents conducted large-scale raids. Thousands of federal and National Guard personnel were also sent to Washington DC in August, as part of what critics have described as an unprecedented federal enforcement operation in the nation’s capital. The White House has defended the moves as necessary to bolster immigration enforcement and combat crime, while Democratic leaders have argued that crime levels in these cities are generally falling.