Five hundred National Guard members have arrived in the Chicago area and are mobilized for an initial period of 60 days, despite an ongoing lawsuit challenging their deployment there, according to a statement Wednesday from U.S. Northern Command, a part of the Defense Department.
About 200 members from multiple units in the Texas National Guard and 300 members from units in the Illinois National Guard have been activated and sent to the Chicago area, the statement said. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has denounced the deployment as an unconstitutional invasion.
The troops are stationed at the Army Reserve center in Elwood, outside Joliet, about an hour southwest of Chicago.
“These forces will protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” U.S. Northern Command said in its statement.
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On Monday, the state of Illinois and city of Chicago sued to block the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago.
In a statement Sunday, ahead of the National Guard’s arrival, Pritzker said, “We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion.”
“It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” he said.
“The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props,” he said. “This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness.”
President Donald Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “should be in jail” in an escalation of his conflict with the two Democratic officials.
“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” he said in the post. “Governor Pritzker also!”
Trump has threatened for weeks to send troops to Chicago as part of a crime-fighting and immigration effort, and Democrats have pushed back and said any deployment would be politically motivated against his perceived enemies and an overreach of authority.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Pritzker responded to Trump on X, saying, “I will not back down.”
“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” he said. “What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”
Reached for comment, Johnson said, “This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he added.
The Trump administration is also seeking to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, but a judge granted a temporary restraining order over the weekend to block the move as the case is considered in court.
A three-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted an administrative stay of Judge Karin Immergut’s ruling Saturday and will allow for the federalization of Oregon National Guard members. The ruling did not address the deployment of those members in Portland, which is expected to be addressed at a hearing Thursday.
The emergency administrative ruling stands, while the appeals process in the case continues.
A Pentagon spokesperson said the troops would have worked to support ICE and other federal personnel, as well as protect federal property.
On Tuesday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek directed U.S. Northern Command to demobilize Oregon’s 200 National Guard troops and return another 200 California National Guard members to their state.
Referring to the judge’s decision temporarily blocking Trump from sending the National Guard into Portland, Kotek said in a statement, “Immergut’s orders are a clear and forceful rebuttal to President Trump’s misuse of states’ National Guard.”
“Thus, I am directing Northern Command to send Oregon’s citizen-soldiers home from Camp Rilea immediately,” she said. “Let’s remember that these Oregonians are our neighbors and friends, who have been unlawfully uprooted from their family and careers — they deserve better than this.”
It was unclear whether Kotek’s letter to U.S. Northern Command would have any effect. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment about legal standing for directing Northern Command to send troops home. Northern Command also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to block Immergut’s order while the case makes its way through the courts, arguing her ruling “improperly impinges on the Commander in Chief’s supervision of military operations, countermands a military directive to officers in the field, and endangers federal personnel and property.” Attorneys for the state contend her order should stay in place. The 9th Circuit court is scheduled to hear both sides’ arguments at a hearing Thursday.
