Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration to block its move to send National Guard troops to the city.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, accuses the executive branch of federal overreach. It comes just two days after the White House said President Donald Trump approved the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard troops to Chicago to “protect federal officers and assets,” which was done against the wishes of Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL).
“The deployment of federalized National Guard, including from another state, infringes on Illinois’s sovereignty and right to self-governance. It will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police. It also creates economic harm, depressing business activities and tourism that not only hurt Illinoisians but also hurt Illinois’s tax revenue,” the lawsuit says.
“The Trump administration’s illegal actions already have subjected and are subjecting Illinois to serious and irreparable harm,” the suit continues.
The lawsuit additionally argues that Trump’s deployment is politically motivated, noting that the president has long made “threatening and derogatory” comments about Chicago and Illinois.
The lawsuit requests that a judge find the administration’s federalization and deployment of the National Guard, any state National Guard, or the deployment of the U.S. military in Illinois to be “unconstitutional and/or unlawful.”
The lawsuit names Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, War Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll as defendants.
In recent days, the Department of Homeland Security has increased the presence of masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on the streets of Chicago, which Pritzker has described as a power grab.
In response, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said Monday that he signed an executive order that would create “ICE Free Zones” to bar federal immigration officers from city property.
“In recent weeks, federal agents used several City-owned properties — including parking lots near Harrison and Kedzie, and a vacant lot at 46th and Damen — as staging sites for immigration enforcement,” the mayor’s office said in a press release about the order. “Such use of City property undermines community trust and runs counter to Chicago’s Welcoming City Ordinance, which ensures that all residents — regardless of immigration status — can live, work, and seek services without fear.”
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office wrote in the filing that the “American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor.”
The Trump administration has lost three legal challenges to its effort to send troops to cities without the request of their governors, who have control over their National Guard.
JUDGE RULES TRUMP DEPLOYMENT OF NATIONAL GUARD TO LOS ANGELES VIOLATED FEDERAL LAW
A federal judge in California recently said Trump’s June deployment of the California National Guard to Los Angeles against the governor’s and state leaders’ wishes was unlawful. This month, a federal judge in Oregon ruled twice against the Trump administration in its effort to send the military to Portland against the governor’s request.
“This country has a longstanding and foundational tradition of resistance to government overreach, especially in the form of military intrusion into civil affairs,” U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut wrote in her filing blocking the administration from sending troops to Oregon.