On Monday, October 6, authorities in Illinois and Chicago filed a lawsuit to block President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops to the city. The administration mobilized 400 guardsmen from Texas.
According to a Defense Department memorandum submitted in a related case brought by the state of Oregon, which is challenging similar White House actions, the president ordered 400 federal guardsmen from Texas to be sent to Chicago, Portland, and, if necessary, other cities.
The lawsuit filed Monday by Illinois and Chicago officials argues that the fundamental principles of the U.S. system limiting presidential power to use the military domestically “are under threat.”
“Americans, wherever they live, should not have to exist under the threat of occupation by their own armed forces—especially merely because their local governments are not in the president’s favor,” the statement said.
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Illinois governor J. B. Pritzker called Trump’s actions an “invasion” and urged citizens to stage public protests. The National Guard has also been deployed in Los Angeles and Washington, where similar lawsuits have been filed.