Judge Blocks Trump’s National Guard Deployment in Illinois, Says Troops Would “Add Fuel to the Fire”

A federal judge in Chicago has slammed the brakes on Donald Trump’s plan to deploy hundreds of National Guard soldiers in Illinois, calling the move dangerous and unnecessary as protests intensify over the president’s immigration crackdown.

The ruling by US District Judge April Perry on Thursday is a blow to the Trump administration’s escalating campaign to deport millions of immigrants, one that’s already sparked multiple lawsuits, accusations of rights abuses, and unrest in several US cities.

“Allowing National Guard troops into Illinois right now would only add fuel to the fire,”
Perry said from the bench, adding that her full written decision would follow on Friday.

The lawsuit, filed by the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois, sought to stop the deployments of Guard members from both Illinois and Texas. Some troops were already stationed at an immigration facility in Broadview, just outside Chicago, when the hearing began.

Perry made clear she wasn’t buying the government’s claims that the troops were needed to control violence.
She cited another ruling issued the same day by a different Chicago judge that restricted federal agents from using force on protesters and journalists, after evidence surfaced that people had been injured by ICE officers during demonstrations at the same Broadview site.

Deploying more soldiers there, Perry said, would “only add fuel to the fire that defendants themselves have started.”

Political heat rising

Trump, meanwhile, has been publicly lashing out at Illinois officials who’ve refused to cooperate with his deportation campaign.
Earlier this week, he took to his Truth Social platform to demand the jailing of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, both Democrats.

“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers! Governor Pritzker also!” Trump wrote.

The White House insists the Guard is needed to “protect immigration agents and facilities,” describing Chicago as a “war zone,” a claim local leaders say is wildly exaggerated.

Pritzker, a frequent Trump critic, said earlier this week:

“I can’t believe I have to say ‘troop movements’ in an American city, but that’s what we’re talking about here.”

The Illinois ruling comes just days after a separate federal judge in Portland, Oregon, blocked another troop deployment there, though a San Francisco appeals court may overturn that decision soon, potentially allowing hundreds of troops back into Portland.

Trump has hinted he might invoke the Insurrection Act, a rarely used federal law that gives the president the power to deploy military or National Guard forces domestically without state approval.

The law hasn’t been used since 1992, when President George H. W. Bush sent troops to Los Angeles to quell riots after the Rodney King verdict. That crisis left 63 people dead and the city in flames.