The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday. Pritzker revealed that the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” 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.”
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said she could not provide additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.
The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Over the summer, Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.
In response, California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling, which deemed the use of the guard illegal. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.
Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs. “For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor.
He also noted that state, county, and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago. Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting near the facility on Friday. The facility has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.
Last month, Trump said he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. However, local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on outdated images from 2020, a time when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
City and state officials sued to stop that deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, with a ruling expected over the weekend.
Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far, they do not appear to have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of deployment.
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Associated Press reporter Rebecca Boone contributed.
Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press
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