Trump Asks Supreme Court to Approve National Guard Deployment in Chicago
The Trump administration on Friday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to approve its plan to deploy National Guard troops to Illinois, escalating the former president’s effort to send military personnel into Democratic-led cities under the banner of maintaining order and enforcing federal laws.
The Justice Department filed an emergency motion urging the court to overturn a lower court ruling that halted Trump’s deployment of hundreds of troops to the Chicago area, a move opposed by local and state officials. A federal judge had questioned the administration’s justification for sending in troops, citing discrepancies between the government’s claims and the situation on the ground.
A federal appeals court upheld that judge’s decision on Thursday.
Trump had already sent troops to Los Angeles, Memphis, and Washington, D.C., before ordering deployments to Chicago and Portland, Oregon. The deployments, according to the administration, were intended to contain protests and bolster immigration enforcement. Trump and his supporters portrayed the targeted cities as crime-ridden, chaotic, and in dire need of military intervention.
Democratic leaders, however, accused Trump of fabricating a crisis to punish political rivals and misuse federal power. They said the protests were mostly peaceful and that his characterization of them as violent uprisings was unfounded.
Federal judges have similarly expressed doubt over the administration’s narrative. Local officials reported that demonstrations over immigration policy were limited and nonviolent—far from the “war zone” Trump described.
While the president does have authority to federalize the National Guard under certain laws, those powers are restricted to instances of rebellion or when regular forces cannot enforce federal law. Trump’s use of that authority in cities led by Democrats has pushed the boundaries of presidential power, raising concerns that he’s using the military as a political weapon.
The legal battle centers on Trump’s invocation of a statute allowing federalization of National Guard troops in emergencies. His administration claimed the troops were necessary to protect federal officers and property from protesters. Earlier this month, the administration federalized 300 Illinois National Guard members and deployed additional forces from Texas to the state.
Facing backlash, Trump intensified his rhetoric, calling on October 8 for Chicago’s mayor and Illinois’ governor—both Democrats—to be jailed for allegedly failing to protect immigration officers.
The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago soon sued the administration, and on October 9, U.S. District Judge April Perry, appointed by President Joe Biden, temporarily blocked the deployment. In her ruling, Perry dismissed the administration’s claims of violent unrest near an immigration facility in Broadview, Illinois, where small daily protests had occurred peacefully for weeks.
Perry wrote that officials were “equating protests with riots” and failed to distinguish between peaceful dissent and violent acts. She concluded that there was no sign of rebellion in Illinois or any breakdown of law enforcement, warning that a military deployment would “only add fuel to the fire.”
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago upheld Perry’s ruling, agreeing that “the facts do not justify the president’s actions in Illinois.” Two of the three judges on that panel were appointed by Republican presidents, including one by Trump himself.