Judge blocks National Guard deployment in Illinois for 2 weeks

A judge on Thursday blocked the deployment of National Guard troops in the Chicago area for at least two weeks, finding no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois during Trump’s immigration crackdown.

It’s a victory for Democratic officials who lead the state and city and have traded insults with President Donald Trump about his drive to put troops on the ground in major urban areas.

“The court confirmed what we all know: There is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

The judge said the administration violated the 10th Amendment, which grants certain powers to states, and the 14th Amendment, which assures due process and equal protection.

It wasn’t clear what the troops will do now, including a small number outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Broadview. Officials at U.S. Northern Command directed questions to the Department of Defense, which declined to comment citing a policy that the department doesn’t comment on ongoing litigation.

Guard was already in Illinois

The lawsuit was filed Monday by Chicago and Illinois as Guard members from Texas and Illinois were on their way to a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. All 500 are under the U.S. Northern Command and had been activated for 60 days.

Some slept in vans Wednesday night outside the Broadview building, near Chicago, and emerged Thursday morning on patrol behind portable fences. For weeks, the ICE site has been the site of occasional clashes between protesters and federal agents.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton said the Guard’s mission would be to protect federal properties and government law enforcers in the field, not “solving all of crime in Chicago.”

The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. But Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.

“Chicago is seeing a brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement,” Hamilton told the judge.

Perry, however, wasn’t swayed.

“I have seen no critical evidence that there is a danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois,” she said hours later.

Order could be extended

The judge said the order would expire on Oct. 23 at 11:59 p.m. She set an Oct. 22 hearing by telephone to determine if the order should be extended for another 14 days.

Perry said the actions of the Department of Homeland Security are largely rooted in Trump’s “animus toward Illinois elected officials.” She expressed skepticism of the federal government’s characterization of protests in Broadview.

“DHS’s narrative of events is simply unreliable,” said Perry, who was appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson sat in a corner of the courtroom, which overflowed into a room with video of the hearing.

The city and state have called the deployments unnecessary and illegal.

“The president does not have the unfettered discretion to turn America’s military against its own citizens when they exercise their constitutional rights,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.

Trump, meanwhile, has portrayed Chicago as a lawless “hellhole” of crime despite statistics that show a significant drop in crime. He said Pritzker and Johnson should be arrested for not protecting agents during immigration sweeps. Pritzker’s response: “Come and get me.”

Court challenges elsewhere

Also Thursday, a federal appeals court heard arguments over whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where there have been mostly small nightly protests outside an ICE building.

A judge on Sunday granted a temporary restraining order blocking the move. Trump had mobilized California troops for Portland just hours after the judge first blocked him from using Oregon’s Guard.

Two dozen other states with a Democratic attorney general or governor signed a court filing in support of the legal challenge by California and Oregon. Twenty others, led by Iowa, backed the Trump administration.

Chicago’s federal court issued other decisions this week related to immigration enforcement. In one, a judge said immigration agents have repeatedly violated a 2022 consent decree outlining how ICE can make so-called warrantless arrests. That decree requires ICE to show documentation for each arrest it makes for people besides those being targeted.

Immigrant advocacy groups believe hundreds of people arrested around Chicago could qualify for reduced bond or have ankle monitors removed.

Guard expected on ground in Memphis

Trump previously sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington. In Tennessee, Memphis Mayor Paul Young said troops would begin patrolling Friday. Republican Gov. Bill Lee supports the role.

Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis said she hoped the Guard would direct traffic and have a presence in retail corridors, but not set up checkpoints or make the city “feel like there is this over-militarization in our communities.”

In a California case, a judge in September said the deployment was illegal. By that point, just 300 of the thousands of troops sent there remained and the judge did not order them to leave.

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Associated Press writers Ed White in Detroit, Geoff Mulvihill in Philadelphia, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, and Konstantin Toropin in Washington, contributed to this report.

Christine Fernando And Sudhin Thanawala, The Associated Press