Raoul says he’s ready to file a challenge if federal troops arrive in Chicago

Illinois cannot yet file suit against the federal government for an apparent plan to send federal troops to Chicago, Attorney General Kwame Raoul said, but if boots hit the ground, President Donald Trump “should expect a legal challenge here.”

It would be the latest in a bevy of lawsuits that the state has filed against the Trump administration in relation to immigration.

That includes two lawsuits — one of which Raoul filed Monday — against the administration’s plan to withhold funding from states that don’t cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“None of this chaos, and none of these acts make us safer,” Raoul said Monday, referring to the administration’s efforts to federalize National Guard troops and withhold funding for states that limit law enforcement collaboration with ICE.

House Republicans, meanwhile, called a news conference Tuesday saying they want to “bring down the tension” and once again called for repealing the state’s TRUST Act that prohibits local law enforcement agencies from assisting ICE with civil immigration enforcement.

Thus far, Illinois officials know little about the federal government’s plan — or if one will even be executed — to send troops to Chicago. Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday the Illinois National Guard learned of a memo from the Department of Homeland Security that requested the Department of War send 100 troops to the city.

Pritzker said DHS sought the activation of troops to protect “ICE personnel and facilities.” He also said he didn’t know whether the troops requested would be Illinois National Guard or from another state.

Over the weekend, armed Customs and Border Patrol officers paraded through the streets of Chicago arresting people, while ICE shot chemical projectiles and rubber bullets at protesters in Broadview, including allegedly at a TV news reporter’s car. As of Monday, the Chicago Tribune reported that federal prosecutors had charged five people in relation to recent protests, including two who were apparently armed.

Raoul noted it is illegal to prevent federal agents from doing their jobs, including trying to block vehicles. But he also said the 10th Amendment “preserves state sovereignty to enforce state laws as they see fit,” previewing his legal arguments should troops arrive.

“The militia clauses of the United States Constitution give Congress sole authority to decide what factual circumstances allow the presidents to federalize the National Guard. They don’t exist here,” Raoul said.

In August, a federal judge ruled the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard soldiers in Los Angeles to engage in law enforcement was illegal. The Trump administration has since appealed. The attorney general of Oregon is also challenging a recent troop deployment.

But it’s unclear whether a judge would deem the apparent purpose of this deployment — to protect ICE and federal buildings, according to Pritzker — as permissible.

“Clearly, this deployment of the Federal officers into our well-policed central business district is meant to provoke Chicagoans,” Raoul said. “What the President is hoping to do is foment chaos by inciting out-of-control protests. So I urge Illinoisans: Don’t take the bait. There is no emergency in Chicago. Don’t help him create one.”

None of the three House Republican leaders who called a news conference Tuesday expressed concerns about the potential deployment of federal troops to Chicago or the actions of ICE and Border Patrol agents in the city.

The Biden administration’s lax border policies made Illinois “unable to keep up with the flood of illegal immigrants coming into the country,” Rep. CD Davidsmeyer, R-Murrayville, said. That affected crime rates and the state budget, he said.

Rep. Jeff Keicher, a Sycamore Republican, said he believed ICE agents were on Michigan Ave. because of Pritzker’s actions. He criticized Pritzker’s comment, made in Los Angeles last March, that Democrats need to become “street fighters” in the political arena.

“I haven’t seen reporting of our governor saying what is occurring with ICE is illegal,” Keicher said. “He just feels it’s wrong, and that’s the premise of the issue. He should be addressing this through legal challenges. He’s choosing not to, because the actions of ICE are legal.”

Pritzker agreed with the premise that everyone should tone down their rhetoric, but he again criticized Trump at an unrelated Tuesday news conference.

“The president of the United States is trying to label the Democratic Party as if it’s some terrorist organization,” Pritzker said. “Who is inciting people? It’s usually the Republicans and Donald Trump, who are accusing other people of the very thing they are guilty of.”

Keicher said he filed House Bill 4142 to make protesters subject to a Class A misdemeanor if an officer tells them to get at least 14 feet away and the protester does not comply.

Last week, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled that the federal government cannot withhold emergency funding from Illinois and other states based on those states’ refusal to participate in immigration enforcement.

The judge ruled that the order violates the Constitution because Congress controls spending.

Since then, Illinois learned of another attempt to divert funding, Raoul said.

He’s leading a coalition of 12 attorneys general challenging the reallocation of $100 million in public safety and disaster relief funds “away from Illinois and other states around the country.” Illinois’ cut is worth $30 million, Raoul estimated.

Raoul said DHS and the Federal Emergency Management Agency made the cuts with four days remaining in the fiscal year “without any notice or explanation.” The attorneys general also filed that lawsuit in Rhode Island.

“These funds under the Homeland Security grant program help states protect against acts of terrorism and are a critical source of money for networks of police departments, fire departments, emergency services and public works departments across the country,” Raoul said.