President Donald Trump's authority to deploy National Guard troops in American cities is under legal scrutiny following violent clashes between protesters and federal agents in Portland and Chicago, with the White House defending the move as necessary for law and order.Trump compared the cities to war zones on Monday and said he’s willing to invoke the Insurrection Act to send in federal troops.“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” he said. If people were being killed, and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”A federal judge has given the Trump administration two days to respond to Illinois’ lawsuit challenging the president’s plan to send National Guard troops to Chicago, but she didn’t immediately block the deployment.Judge April Perry set a midnight Wednesday deadline for the response from the federal government and scheduled a Thursday hearing in the lawsuit filed Monday.The lawsuit alleges that the president's effort to send troops to Chicago and Illinois is "unlawful and dangerous.”“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 lawsuit says.Trump has argued that the troops are needed to help fight crime in Chicago and to ensure that federal agents can enforce immigration laws in the city, which limits cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said, "There was never an insurrection or an invasion on the ground that justified the deployment of the military to our American city. However, Chicago and the state of Illinois are challenging the president's decision in court, claiming it is a manufactured crisis that usurps state police power.A federal judge temporarily blocked the president's order to deploy the National Guard in Oregon, stating that conditions were "not significantly violent or disruptive" and that the president's claims were "untethered to the facts."
Author: Christopher Salas
Published at: 2025-10-06 22:13:32
Still want to read the full version? Full article
