The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.
Pritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
A spokesperson for the governor’s office said she could not provide additional details. The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to questions about Pritzker’s statement.
The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. Meanwhile Tennessee National Guard troops are expected to help Memphis police.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail.
Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.
“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.
Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.
Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
City and state officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S. District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday, and a ruling is expected over the weekend.
Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in Oregon, but so far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment.