A judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from federalizing or deploying the national guard in Illinois after Donald Trump ordered hundreds of troops to Chicago to help with immigration enforcement and to battle what the White House says are high crime rates in the city.
US district judge April Perry issued her decision from the bench after more than two hours of arguments from lawyers for the federal government and the state of Illinois, which sued the Trump administration over the deployment. The order took effect on Thursday and will remain in place for two weeks.
According to reporters present in the courtroom, Perry said she had “seen no credible evidence that there is a danger of a rebellion in the state of Illinois”. On Thursday evening, around the time of Perry’s ruling, about half a dozen guard soldiers were milling around inside the gate at the Ice center in Broadview. A group of about 10 protesters were outside.
Illinois governor JB Pritzker said in a statement: “Donald Trump is not a king – and his administration is not above the law.”
Quoting the judge, he said: “Today, the court confirmed what we all know: there is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the national guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago.”
Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, who attended the court hearing, called the decision a “win for the people of Chicago and the rule of law”. He vowed that the city would “continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to end the Trump administration’s war on Chicago”.
Lawyers for the state of Illinois had called the sending of national guard soldiers to the city – which was opposed by Chicago and state political leaders – a constitutional crisis.
The government “plowed ahead anyway”, attorney Christopher Wells said. “Now, troops are here.” Chicago and Illinois, run by Democratic elected leaders, say Trump has exceeded his authority and ignored their pleas to keep the national guard off the streets.
Eric Hamilton, a justice department lawyer, said the Chicago area was rife with “tragic lawlessness”.
“Chicago is seeing a brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement,” Hamilton said. “They’re not protesters. There is enough that there is a danger of a rebellion here, which there is.”
In handing down her order, Perry assailed the Department of Homeland Security for providing a version of events on the ground that was “simply unreliable”.
Lawyers for Illinois and local officials have said the government is exaggerating and misrepresenting the situation in Chicago, which Trump has referred to as a “war zone”.
Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, said the president had “exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets” and “will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities”. She added that the president and his administration “expect to be vindicated by the court” upon appeal.
National guard members from Texas and Illinois arrived this week at a US army reserve center in Elwood, south-west of Chicago. All 500 national guard members are under the US northern command and have been activated for 60 days.
Earlier this week, Trump said Johnson and Pritzker should be jailed for failing to protect federal agents during immigration enforcement crackdowns.
Two dozen other states with a Democratic attorney general or governor have signed an appeals court filing in support of the legal challenge by California – and also one in the Portland, Oregon, where a similar troop deployment is also being challenged.
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
In a separate ruling on Thursday, the US district judge Sara Ellis issued a preliminary injunction restricting agents’ use of force, including pepper balls, rubber bullets and physical force such as pulling, shoving or tackling against protesters and journalists who don’t pose a serious threat to law enforcement.
Ellis’s order covers all of northern Illinois and also requires federal agents to wear “visible identification” such as badges, the subject of heated debate as viral footage has surfaced of masked, plainclothes officers carrying out immigration enforcements in several US cities.
Trump previously sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington DC. In Memphis, Tennessee, Paul Young, the city’s mayor, said national guard members would begin patrolling on Friday. Bill Lee, Tennessee’s Republican governor, supports using the troops.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
Source: US Politics - theguardian.com
