Chicago deployment not legal: NPR

President Trump argues that the National Guard is needed in Chicago — a city that has seen the fewest summer murders in 60 years — because it is overrun with crime.

But the conditions to legally justify deploying troops to Chicago simply don’t exist, said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. Morning edition. The state filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration, in which it claims the Illinois National Guard can only be federalized in the event of foreign invasion, rebellion or if the federal government is unable to enforce federal laws.

The only “unrest” and “chaos” in and around Chicago, Raoul said, comes from “(Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the Border Patrol shooting pepper spray at civilians, journalists” and “even Chicago police officers.”

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in Philadelphia on Thursday, November 21, 2024.

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For weeks, the Trump administration has waged an aggressive immigration crackdown in Chicago, including a recent raid on an apartment building in which agents removed residents, including children, from their homes and arrested some U.S. citizens.

These actions led to tense clashes between protesters and federal agents. A Border Patrol agent fatally shot a woman in the city’s southwest last week. Officers claimed the woman was armed and that she and other protesters were using cars to surround officers, WBEZ reports.

Raoul told NPR’s Steve Inskeep that it’s clear the Trump administration’s actions against Chicago are “political in nature.” Trump has pledged for weeks to eliminate crime in Chicago, even though the city has seen declines in most major crime categories this year, according to WBEZ.

Last month, Trump said he would “love” for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to call the White House to make a formal request for troops. The president also posted on Truth Social last month that the city was going to find out “why it’s called the WAR Department.”

“All of these communications from the president and members of his administration demonstrate that this is political targeting and not a matter of conditions on the ground in Chicago or anywhere else in the state of Illinois,” Raoul said.

In an emailed statement, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, “Amid the ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, which local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his legal authority to protect federal agents and property. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing America’s cities. »

A federal judge did not immediately block the Trump administration from deploying troops to Chicago as Illinois had requested in its lawsuit — including the deployment of some troops from Texas and other states. Oral arguments in that trial are scheduled for Thursday.

Richard Hayes, who served as the former adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard — its highest-ranking member — said in an interview with Morning edition If and when troops are deployed, the public should know that there are things soldiers are supposed to do or are not supposed to do.

“All soldiers – sailors, airmen, Marines, space wardens – have a duty to follow lawful orders just as much as not to follow illegal orders. So you have a duty both ways,” Hayes said.

But Raoul said the troop deployment remains a source of concern because it is not a “normal time.”

“I have no negative feelings toward the National Guardsmen when they serve their country, but it is the way they are led that concerns me,” Raoul said.

Regarding the prospect of an appeal of the Illinois lawsuit all the way to a Trump-friendly Supreme Court and the deployment of troops to Chicago, Raoul said “that would be a very dangerous thing to happen.”

“That’s not American. That’s not what we expect in our country, to be subject to military deployment on our streets to do civilian law enforcement work,” Raoul continued. “That’s not what we do in the United States of America.”

This digital article was edited by Treye Green. The radio version was produced by Mansee Khurana and Nia Dumas.