Five hundred US troops deployed in the Chicago area on Thursday as part of President Donald Trump’s hardline immigration crackdown, despite strenuous objections of local leaders seeking a judge’s order to block the mobilization.
District Judge April Perry was set to hold a hearing on the issue, a day after Trump called for jailing the Democratic governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago for resisting his military-backed mass deportation and anti-crime campaign.
The government argues the troops are needed to protect federal agents during immigration raids in the Democratic stronghold, the third-largest city in the United States, which the Trump administration depicts in exaggerated and lurid terms as “a war zone.”
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in the Chicago suburb of Broadview “has been the target of actual and threatened violence,” requiring “assistance from the Department of War,” the Trump administration said in a court filing late Wednesday.
Local elected officials were seeking to “second-guess” Trump’s judgement, the filing said.
“But responsibility, and accountability, for those decisions should rest with the political branches of the federal government, not this Court,” the filing argued.
National Guard troops were seen entering the Broadview facility overnight, local media reported Thursday.
The deployment includes 200 National Guard troops from Texas and 300 from Illinois, the US Army Northern Command said in a statement Wednesday evening. They have been mobilized for an initial period of 60 days.
Perry’s decision will be closely followed, as Trump has said he could invoke the rarely used Insurrection Act — which allows the president to deploy the military within the United States to suppress rebellion — if courts or local officials are “holding us up.”
The Republican has been accused by critics of growing authoritarianism as he fulfills his campaign promise to deport millions of illegal immigrants.
Raids by armed and masked federal agents have sparked allegations of rights abuses and illegal detentions.
Local officials argue that city and state law enforcement are sufficient to handle protests against ICE officials and street crime.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, seen as a potential Democratic candidate in the 2028 presidential election, called Trump “unhinged.”
“He’s a wannabe dictator. And there’s one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump: if you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me,” Pritzker said Wednesday.
In recent days, protesters have gathered outside the ICE facility in Broadview, leading to scattered clashes.
On Wednesday, a viral video showed agents on the roof of the facility taking aim at a church minister among a small group of protesters. The clergyman was struck in the head with a pepper ball and fell to the ground.
Protester Aiden Price, a Marine veteran and Chicago Public Schools civics teacher, told the Sun-Times newspaper he felt like a “hypocrite” lately in the classroom.
“I’m teaching things that aren’t being practiced by our government,” the 34-year-old said. “These rights are supposed to be given to anyone in the confines of the country.”
He noted a recent Border Patrol raid at an Chicago apartment building that saw residents zip-tied for hours.
“The things I’m seeing are too similar to what you’d see if a member of the military was detaining a member of the Taliban or Al Qaeda, but these are kids and grandmas on the South Side of Chicago,” Price said.
AFP
