After several weeks of threatening to do so over the objections of local leaders, US President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago.
According to White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson, “President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets.”
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“President Trump will not ignore the lawlessness that plagues American cities.”
Following the shooting by US Border Patrol personnel of an armed woman in Chicago, Democratic Governor JB Pritzker earlier on Saturday revealed Trump’s plan.
No law enforcement officers were seriously hurt in the incident where a group, including the shot woman, rammed cars into US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security on Saturday.
The woman, an unidentified US citizen, took her own to the hospital, the statement read. The condition of the woman was not immediately known. In tense exchanges with protesters on Saturday, ICE agents reportedly used pepper spray and loaded rubber bullets.
Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security for the United States, stated in a post on X that she would launch additional “special operations” to control the scene in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
Pritzker claimed that the guard was informed that the troops would be called up by the Pentagon early in the morning. Trump has threatened to send troops to Chicago for a long time, but he did not specify when or where they would be stationed.
According to Pritzker, the Trump administration’s Department of War issued an ultimatum to call up its forces this morning, or we will. Demanding a Governor to send military forces within our own borders and against our will is absolut outrageous and un-American.
She was unable to provide more information, according to a governor’s office spokesman. Regarding Pritzker’s statement, the White House and the Pentagon did not respond to inquiries.
People in the Chicago area have staged repeated demonstrations against the increased federal presence. In the suburb of Broadview, Chicago, police and hundreds of protesters fought it out outside an ICE facility on Friday.
Several times, heavily armed ICE agents have repelled demonstrators standing on the ground by attempting to stop detainees from entering the facility using physical force, chemical weapons, and rubber bullets, evoking combat scenes.
Protesters have protested similar overt policing in other Democratic-run cities, including Portland, Los Angeles, Washington, DC, and New York.
Trump’s law enforcement takeover of Washington, DC included a National Guard deployment over the summer in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Memphis police are expected to receive assistance from the Tennessee National Guard.
Governor Gavin Newsom of California filed a federal lawsuit to stop the Los Angeles deployment, and the resultant temporary block was awarded. A three-judge panel from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely to prevail in the appeal of the court’s decision that the use of the guard was prohibited.
The Illinois National Guard troops would be forced to leave their homes and regular jobs, according to Pritzker, who described Trump’s move as a “manufactured performance.”
Donald Trump said, “This has never been about safety.” The governor also noted that state, county, and local law enforcement have been working together to protect ICE’s Broadview facility, which is located on the outskirts of Chicago.
In response to the administration’s recent increase in immigration enforcement this fall, federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people who were protesting near the facility on Friday.
Judge prevents Judge’s deployment in Portland
Trump’s administration has been temporarily prevented from using the National Guard in Portland by an Oregon federal judge.
Trump claimed last month that he was sending federal troops to Portland, Oregon, calling the area “war-ravaged” and sending troops there. However, according to local officials, many of his claims and social media posts rely on images from the year 2020, when protests and unrest erupted following the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.
In a lawsuit brought by the state and city, US District Judge Karin Immergut on Saturday issued the order.
After Trump called the city “war-ravaged,” the US Department of Defense had announced that it would put 200 members of Oregon’s National Guard under US control for 60 days to protect federal property at locations where protests are taking place or are likely to occur.
That description, according to Oregon officials, was absurd. Nightly protests that typically drew a few hundred people to the city’s US ICE building before the deployment was announced have recently taken place there.
Source: Aljazeera
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