President Donald Trump ordered as many as 400 Texas National Guard troops be dispatched to quell what he characterized as violent protests in other states.
The Texas troops will serve in “federal protection missions” in Portland, Chicago and possibly other cities, the New York Times reports, citing a letter released late Sunday by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The Texas National Guard troops deploying to Portland would join additional troops relocated from California, per Hegseth’s Sunday night directive.
On Sunday night, U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut — for the second time in two days — slapped a temporary restraining order on Trump’s attempted deployment of Texas and California troops to Portland. However, the order doesn’t cover Illinois.
Both Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed the deployment in late Sunday night tweets.
“This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon and other locations within the United States,” tweeted Pritzker, a Democrat. “No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.”
Abbott, a Republican and unyielding Trump ally who previously denied Texas was sending Guard troops to Illinois, responded to Pritzker’s tweet by bragging that he’d approved the deployment.
“I fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials,” Abbott said. “You can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let Texas Guard do it.”
Pritzker first made the claim that Texas National Guard troops were preparing to deploy to Illinois in early September.
“We have reason to believe that the Trump administration has already begun staging the Texas National Guard for deployment in Illinois,” Pritzker said in a live update posted by ABC News on Sept. 2.
The Current was the first Texas publication to report on Pritzker’s claim, which was largely ignored by Lone Star State media.
The Austin-American Statesman instead responded with an article disputing the claim that was largely based on messaging coming from Abbott’s office.
Trump claims the troop deployments are needed to quell unruly protests at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facilities in Portland and suburban Chicago. However, Judge Immergut said in her ruling that the protests in Portland were small and not significantly disruptive.
“We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion,” Pritzker said in a statement on the president’s action.
“It started with federal agents,” the governor continued. “It will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops.”
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