US President Donald Trump has authorised the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard troops to protect federal officers and assets in Chicago, the latest escalation of his use of federal intervention in cities.
A similar mobilisation of 200 National Guard troops in Oregon was temporarily blocked on Saturday after a federal judge found Mr Trump was likely overstepping his legal authority in responding to relatively small protests near an Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland.
US District Court Judge Karin Immergut agreed the legal precedent requires the courts to give great deference to the President in making such decisions, but she disagreed that Mr Trump had made his determination about Portland in good faith and ruled that deference “is not equivalent to ignoring the facts on the ground".
“I wasn’t served well by the people that picked judges,” Mr Trump said on Sunday, adding that the judge – who he appointed – “ought to be ashamed of herself” because “Portland is burning to the ground".
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson confirmed that the President authorised using the Illinois National Guard members, citing what she called “continuing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.
“President Trump exercised his lawful authority to protect federal assets and personnel in Portland following violent riots and attacks on law enforcement,” Ms Jackson said. “We expect to be vindicated by a higher court.”
Mr Trump characterised both Portland and Chicago as cities rife with crime and unrest, calling the former a “war zone” and suggesting apocalyptic force was needed to quell problems in the latter. Since the start of his second term, he has sent or talked about sending troops to 10 cities.
“This morning, the Trump administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
He called the move unnecessary and “a manufactured performance – not a serious effort to protect public safety".
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek talked to Mr Trump in late September and said the deployment was unnecessary. She refused to call up any Oregon National Guard troops, so Mr Trump did so himself in an order to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. That prompted the lawsuit from city and state officials.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has issued a memo that directs component agencies within the Justice Department, including the FBI, to help protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, including in Chicago and Portland.
