Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow National Guard presence in Chicago area
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to allow the deployment of National Guard troops to the Chicago area, escalating President Donald Trump’s conflict with Democratic governors over the use of the military on U.S. soil.
The emergency appeal to the high court came after a judge blocked, for at least two weeks, the deployment of Guard members from Illinois and Texas to assist in immigration enforcement. A federal appeals court refused to stay the judge’s order.
The conservative-dominated court has handed Trump repeated victories in emergency appeals since he took office in January, after lower courts ruled against him and often over the objection of the three liberal justices. The court has allowed Trump to ban transgender people from the military, claw back billions of dollars in federal spending approved by Congress, act aggressively against immigrants and fire independent federal agency leaders confirmed by the Senate.
In the Guard dispute, U.S. District Judge April Perry said she found no substantial evidence that a “danger of rebellion” is brewing in Illinois during Trump’s immigration crackdown.
But Attorney General D. John Sauer, Trump’s top lawyer on the Supreme Court, urged the justices to intervene immediately. Perry’s order, Sauer wrote, “impinges on the president’s authority and unnecessarily endangers federal personnel and property.”
Eleven people were arrested at a protest Friday outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the western Chicago suburb of Broadview. Law enforcement had urged protesters to remain in designated “protest zones.”
In recent weeks, the Broadview ICE facility has been the scene of tense protests, where federal agents have previously used tear gas and other chemical agents against protesters and journalists.
via News
A federal judge in Oregon also temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard troops there.
Meanwhile, in Tennessee, Democratic elected officials filed a lawsuit Friday to try to stop the current Guard deployment in Memphis. They said Republican Gov. Bill Lee, with Trump’s support, violated the state constitution, which says the Guard can be called out during “rebellion or invasion,” but only with the blessing of state lawmakers.
The deployment “sets a dangerous precedent for military intrusion into local communities,” said Memphis City Council member JB Smiley.
Since their arrival on Oct. 10, troops have been patrolling areas of downtown Memphis, including near the iconic Pyramid, wearing uniforms and protective vests that say “military police,” with weapons in holsters. Authorities have said Guard members do not have the power to arrest.
“We are uniquely placed in this city to have the resources available to eliminate the criminal element in Memphis,” Lee said recently.
For years, Memphis has faced very violent crime, including assaults, carjackings and homicides. While this year’s statistics show improvement, many people recognize that violence remains a problem.
In California, a judge said in September that the deployment in the Los Angeles area was illegal. At that time, only 300 of the thousands of soldiers sent there remained, and the judge did not order them to leave.
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News writers Christine Fernando in Chicago, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, and Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, contributed to this report.