Illinois sues Trump administration to block national guard deployment

Illinois filed a lawsuit on October 6 aiming to block the Trump administration from deploying federalised National Guard troops in Chicago, arguing it’s an unconstitutional overreach of federal power.

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the Illinois Attorney General’s Office stated in the filing, NBC News reports.

The lawsuit names President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as defendants, alleging the administration’s actions are illegal and causing “serious and irreparable harm” to Illinois.

This legal action follows a federal judge's ruling in Oregon temporarily blocking similar deployments of National Guard troops to Portland.

US District Judge Karin Immergut wrote, “This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs.”

Illinois’ suit argues that the deployment infringes on state sovereignty, citing the Tenth Amendment:

“The Federalization Order’s deployment of federalized military forces... represents the exact type of intrusion on State power that is at the heart of the Tenth Amendment.”

The lawsuit also states that such actions “will cause only more unrest... harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police,” while also hurting the economy and state tax revenue.

The state and city are asking a judge to declare the deployment of any federalised National Guard or US military in Illinois as “unconstitutional and/or unlawful.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the move, saying: “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like [Illinois Gov. JB] Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets.”

The lawsuit disputes the existence of any emergency in Chicago, pointing to Trump’s decade-old calls for troop deployment: “The supposed current emergency is belied by the fact that Trump’s Chicago troop deployment threats began more than ten years ago.”

It also accuses the administration of provoking unrest through aggressive immigration enforcement and crowd control tactics, including chemical munitions and masked agents in downtown Chicago. “The community’s horror at these tactics and their significant consequences have resulted in entirely foreseeable protests,” the suit states.

Trump has made similar threats against other Democrat-led cities, including New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans. A federal judge in California recently ruled that Trump’s prior deployment of troops in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., was illegal.

By Sabina Mammadli