Texas National Guard troops mobilize in Chicago region

Despite pushback from Illinois’ governor and a federal lawsuit, Texas National Guard troops mobilized Tuesday in Will County at the behest of the Trump administration.

The Associated Press saw military personnel in uniforms with the Texas National Guard patch at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood. Trucks marked Emergency Disaster Services pulled in and out, dropping off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows.

For weeks, President Donald Trump had pledged to send the Guard to Chicago amid daily protests against the surge in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the region and clashes between both sides.

Local leaders have called the deployment of troops to aid in deportations “an invasion” and “unconstitutional.”

“It’s deeply concerning. We don’t know exactly where this is going to end,” Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday at an unrelated event. “What we know is that it is striking fear in the hearts of everybody in Chicago. This isn’t just about undocumented people. U.S. citizens who are brown or Black are being stopped only for that reason, and asked for identification that proves that they’re a U.S. citizen.

“Think about the last time you can remember a regime that asked people for their papers to prove who they are. That’s what we’re turning into in this country.”

Pritzker also suggested Trump would keep troops in Democratic cities to discourage voter turnout in the 2026 midterm elections.

“He wants us all in big cities to get used to the idea that it’s OK to have military on the streets. Why? Because next year there’s an election and he’s going to leave a lot of these folks in place, and when we have elections … you’re going to see soldiers outside your polling places. That’s going to intimidate a lot of people,” Pritzker said.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement that “our brave ICE law enforcement will not be deterred.”

“Our officers continue to risk their lives every day to arrest criminal illegal aliens despite not getting paid and the more than 1000% increase in assaults against them,” she added.

The state and Chicago filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking to overturn the deployment, which Judge April Perry is expected to rule on this Thursday.

The lawsuit argues the federal government is inciting violence and deploying the military to Democrat-led states as political retribution.

In Oregon, a judge over the weekend blocked the Guard’s deployment to Portland.

Now troops are here, what’s next for the 300 Illinois and 400 Texas National Guard members expected to converge in the Chicago area?

“I understand there has been virtually no coordination with local authorities either at the state or local level with ICE or CBP,” said former Illinois National Guard adjutant general David Harris, current state Department of Revenue director.

“So when these Guardsman hit the streets, it begs the question: what is their mission? And, who’s directing them to do whatever is that they’re supposed to be doing?” he asked.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot said Monday on X he “fully authorized the president to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.”

Abbott also posted a photo of troops boarding a plane Monday, stating “the elite Texas National Guard. Ever ready. Deploying now.”

Insurrection Act

On Monday, Trump told reporters he’d consider invoking the Insurrection Act, which dates back to the 1790s. The law allows a president to dispatch active duty military to states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.

“So far it hasn’t been necessary but we have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it, I’d do that,” Trump said.

“If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure I’d do that,” he added.

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said he’s worried that Trump will declare an insurrection, which he called “completely preposterous.”

“An insurrection involves an armed rebellion, which is something on the order a of civil war,” he said.

But it would take time to mount a legal challenge if the president invoked the Act, the Schaumburg Democrat noted.

“My concern is that (Trump) was trying to provoke an escalation when he deployed ICE — and quite frankly they’re acting out of control, especially from what you’re seeing in Broadview and other places in the city,” Krishnamoorthi added. “It’s to essentially provoke a series of incidents that he can then use to claim there’s mass unrest and thereby justify or create ‘facts’ that would support deploying troops under the Insurrection Act.”

Using the Insurrection Act “is really serious,” Harris said.

Normally, the Posse Comitatus Act, prohibits U.S. troops from engaging in civilian law enforcement. However, if the Insurrection Act is invoked, its “provisions allow the military to be used in a police capacity,” said Harris, a former state lawmaker from Arlington Heights.

Asked if the Guard is likely to focus on west suburban Broadview, where an ICE facility is located or deploy elsewhere in the region, “I have no way of knowing,” Harris said.

“But if their mission is to support and protect the federal personnel that are operating in the area, namely ICE and CBP — if their mission is to do that and those individuals, ICE and CBP, are operating throughout the city I see no reason why the military would not be operating with them,” Harris said.

Adding to the churn, FBI Director Kash Patel arrived in Chicago Tuesday.

“President Trump is letting good cops be cops,” Patel posted on X. “Thanks to these men and women for serving the mission and saving American lives no matter what pro-crime politicians may say.”

· Daily Herald wire services contributed to this report.