President Donald Trump’s unprecedented National Guard deployments face more scrutiny on Thursday, with two court hearings in separate U.S. states as governors opposing the militarisation of their cities challenge the federal government.
A federal judge in Illinois will decide whether to temporarily stop the National Guard from deploying to Chicago, and an appeals court in California will review Trump’s initial appeal over his decision to send troops to Portland, Oregon, which a federal judge blocked over the weekend.
A coalition of 24 states on Wednesday filed a brief in support of Oregon and California’s lawsuit opposing the National Guard deployment in Portland. In urging the appeals court to uphold the lower court, the states argued that the deployment defies the U.S. Constitution, overrides the state of Oregon’s authority, and endangers communities in Portland.
As the legal battles play out, 500 National Guard troops stand at the ready near Chicago.
US National Guard
National Guard troops are state-based militia forces that, despite wearing U.S. Army uniforms, answer to their governors except when called into federal service. They are more typically deployed to assist with natural disasters.
Trump says the troops are necessary to protect federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, who he says are under threat from street protesters and Democratic elected officials who have refused to cooperate with the White House. Democratic governors and mayors, in turn, have accused the president of manufacturing a crisis out of political motivations.
Trump is facing four lawsuits over his troop deployments to Portland, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and Chicago. The deployments have been ruled illegal by the two trial courts that have reached early decisions, as judges ruled that protests in Los Angeles and Portland did not warrant a military response.
But the California court has so far been overruled by the same appeals court that will oversee the Portland case, saying the president’s military decisions must be given great deference.
Trump officials have branded as violent the street protests against his immigration crackdown, though the demonstrations have mostly been small and peaceful, especially when compared to the 2020 demonstrations that erupted across the country following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Outside an ICE detention facility in Broadview, Illinois, about 12 miles (20 km) west of Chicago, a dozen protesters gathered outside on Wednesday evening, smoking, vaping and eating burgers as they awaited the arrival of the National Guard.
National Guard members from Texas and Illinois were expected to arrive to protect the facility in support of ICE officers, who have fired pepper balls, tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators.
Protesters raised concerns that the National Guard troops would escalate tensions.
“I guess I’m ready to get hit by a live round,” said Will Creutz, 22, an administrative assistant from Chicago whose body is already bruised from pepper ball strikes. “When I survive this and I’m able to think about what I did when something horrible was happening, I will be able to sleep peacefully knowing that I did something.”
Several hundred people marched in downtown Chicago on Wednesday evening, protesting the deployment.
In addition to the usual slate of protest chants, people shouted “Todos somos Silverio” or “We are all Silverio” after the fatal shooting of immigrant Silverio Villegas Gonzalez by ICE agents in a Chicago suburb in September.
The Chicago police presence was relatively light at the event, with no obvious sign of federal agents.
(With inputs from Reuters)
