A federal judge on Thursday blocked the Trump administration’s deployment of Texas and Illinois National Guard troops to Chicago for two weeks, saying there’s no evidence of the “danger of rebellion” the White House used to justify the move, the Associated Press reports.
U.S. District Judge April Perry of Illinois said the administration violated the 10th Amendment, which establishes that the states and the federal government share power, and the 14th Amendment, which pertains to due process and equal protection.
Perry further blasted the Department of Homeland Security for undertaking the deployment based on Trump’s “animus toward Illinois elected officials,” according to the Associated Press. She also questioned the administration’s claim the troops were needed to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents conducting sweeps in the Chicago area.
“DHS’s narrative of events is simply unreliable,” the judge wrote, according to the AP.
White House deployed the Texas Guard units with the blessing of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, a tireless Trump ally who’s echoed the administration justification for the move. In a Fox News interview, Abbott said the troops were necessary to “safeguard” ICE officers.
About 200 members of the Texas Guard were deployed to Illinois, records from U.S. Northern Command show.
The deployment is one of several the Trump administration has undertaken in Democrat-controlled cities. White House officials have tried to justify sending federal troops into those area by claiming crime or protests have spun out of control — a claim disputed in multiple court cases.
On Sunday, a federal judge temporarily blocked deployment of Guard units to Oregon. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals heard further arguments but hasn’t yet issued a ruling.
Perry has set an Oct. 22 followup hearing to determine whether she needs to extend her two-week order for additional weeks, the Associated Press reports.
“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,” Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said, according to the Associated Press.
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