Vice President J.D. Vance said the federal government is happy to send the National Guard to Detroit, Michigan. 283 miles away from Detroit stands the city of Chicago in Illinois, on Sept. 17. There are currently National Guard officers, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and local city police. President Donald Trump sent 500 National Guard to Chicago, 300 of whom are from the Illinois National Guard and 200 of whom are from Texas. Trump says it is to quell democratic cities and support his deportation initiatives.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and the state Governor JB Pritzker sued the Trump administration over the deployment of the National Guard. On Oct. 9, federal judge April Perry, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden’s administration, stopped the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago for the next 14 days. She stated that the president does not have the power to mobilize the National Guard in Illinois.
“I have seen no credible evidence [from the Department of Homeland Security] that there is danger of rebellion in the state of Illinois,” Perry said.
Perry expects her ruling to be appealed, but this ruling means that the National Guard that was sent there cannot carry out their task of protecting ICE and other federal agents. Perry believes that deploying the National Guard would create more civil unrest.
This federal order only applies to the city of Chicago. The National Guard can remain at their base at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, an hour outside of Chicago. They will not need to return to their home states until they are ordered to by a court.
Recently, President Trump posted on Truth Social that Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker should be jailed because he believes that they have not been properly protecting ICE agents. In contrast, Mayor Johnson and Governor Pritzker say that the deployment of the National Guard is unconstitutional.
Before the National Guard landed in Illinois, ICE agents in Illinois were deporting illegal immigrants. On Sept. 8, the Department of Homeland Security announced Operation Midway Blitz, which targets illegal immigrants in Chicago and the state of Illinois by deporting them. In the first nine days of the operation, over 250 illegal immigrants were detained and transferred to detention centers.
Anticipating this, Governor Pritzker signed the Safe Schools Act in August. This bill ensured that students could not be turned away based on immigration statutes and that students could not be asked about their immigration status. It also stated that federal government agents would not be given this information without a warrant.
Many people oppose the National Guard, and ICE agents have been out protesting and planning protests. An example is the No Kings protest planned for Oct. 18, which is a part of the No Kings Movement. For now, Judge Perry has stopped the National Guard in Chicago, finding that the president does not have the power to deploy them. However, Operation Midway Blitz is continuing to round up illegal immigrants in Illinois, and the response from the Illinois local and state government is continuing to protect its residents, via legal action, like suing the federal government and writing bills.
