(Chicago) Monday, Illinois and Chicago brought legal action to prevent the administration of the American president, Donald Trump, from sending hundreds of soldiers of the National Guard to the city. This action took place at the very moment when the troops were preparing for their deployment and a few hours after a federal judge blocked the sending of troops to Portland, Oregon.
The rapid evolution of the situation occurs while the administration describes the cities led by democrats as ravaged by war and without law, and in a context of repression of illegal immigration by the Head of State. The officials of the two cities challenged the president’s assertions, saying that military intervention was not necessary and that it was the involvement of the federal government which is pointing out the situation.
This legal action follows the announcement by the Democratic Governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, that some 300 soldiers of the National Guard of the State would be federalized and deployed in the third largest city in the country, alongside 400 other soldiers in Texas.
Photo Anthony Vazquez, Associated Press Archives
Illinois Democratic Governor JB Pritzker
The complaint alleges that “these advances in the” war “declared for a long time by President Trump against Chicago and Illinois are illegal and dangerous”.
“The American people, wherever they live, should not live under the threat of American military occupation, and not simply because the leaders of their city or their state have lost the favor of a president,” said the complaint.
Mr. Pritzker said this potential deployment was equivalent to a “invasion of Trump” and called the Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott. The latter retaliated, claiming that this repression was necessary to protect the federal officials present in the city as part of the strengthening of immigration controls decided by the president.
The deputy spokesperson for the White House, Abigail Jackson, confirmed in a statement published this weekend that Donald Trump authorized the use of members of the Illinois National Guard, evoking what she called “violent persistent riots and anarchy” that local leaders have not yet repressed.
In Chicago, the sight of armed agents of the border police proceeding to arrests near famous sites amplified the concern of the inhabitants, already worried after the wave of migration repression which began last month. The agents targeted districts with high concentration of immigrants, mostly Latinos.
Protesters frequently gathered near a center for the processing of immigration requests outside the city, and federal officials reported the arrest of 13 demonstrators on Friday near the Immigration and Customs Treatment Center in BroadView.
Photo Jim Vondruska, Reuters archives
A man is arrested while people demonstrate in front of the BroadView immigration and customs treatment center on October 3, 2025.
The Department of Internal Security (DHS) recognized that federal agents had shot a woman on Saturday morning in southwest Chicago. A press release from the Department specifies that the incident occurred after border police officers patrolling in the sector “were struck by vehicles and surrounded by ten cars”.
No law enforcement agent was seriously injured, added Tricia McLaughlin, spokesperson for the DHS.
In Portland, the Federal Judge Karin Immergut granted a temporary restriction order requested by Oregon and California to prevent the deployment of troops from the national guard of these states in the city.
Mme Immergut, appointed by President Trump in his first mandate, seemed incredulous as to the decision to send troops from the National Guard to Oregon from neighboring California, then from Texas on Sunday.
Local officials have suggested that many president’s statements and publications on social networks concerning Portland seem to rely on images of 2020, during the overflows linked to the death of George Floyd.
Under the direction of a new mayor, the city experienced a drop in crime and the city center experienced a decrease in homeless camps and an increase in pedestrian traffic.
Most violent crimes in the United States have decreased in recent years, notably in Portland, where a recent report by Major Cities Chiefs Association revealed that homicides had decreased by 51 % between January and June compared to the same period in 2024.
Since the start of his second mandate, Donald Trump has sent or mentioned the sending of troops to ten cities, including Baltimore (Maryland), Memphis (Tennessee), the Columbia district, New Orleans (Louisiana) and the Californian cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In September, a federal judge said that the administration had “voluntarily” violated the federal law by deploying troops in Los Angeles to protest against the raids of immigration services.
