CHICAGO, Ill. — The Texas National Guard has officially arrived in Chicago to assist the Trump administration in its crackdown on crime and illegal immigration in major U.S. cities.
Now, a legal battle is unfolding as states like Oregon and Illinois challenge the federal government’s use of the National Guard against the wishes of state and city leaders.
The arrival of the Texas National Guard in Chicago marks a divide between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
“We have these local states that are refusing to enforce the law, and we have chaos,” Abbott told Sean Hannity on Monday.
Meanwhile, Pritzker slammed President Donald Trump as the state of Illinois takes legal action to stop the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago.
“Donald Trump is using our servicemembers as political props,” Pritzker said during a press conference Monday.
Governor Abbott shared a post on ‘X’ Monday night with a photo of servicemembers boarding a plane.
“Our elite National Guard in the state of Texas began their deployment as they were loading on planes in Texas, boarding on flights to parts of the country where they will be able to safeguard ICE officials and other federal officials,” Abbott said.
Pritzker challenged Abbott’s backing of the move.
“I have called upon Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw his support for this decision,” he said.
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A Trump-appointed judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the use of the National Guard in Portland on Monday. A judge in Illinois did not do the same.
Constitutional law expert Chris Mirasola, assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, said the president’s use of the National Guard is testing the law in new ways.
“We’re increasing the likelihood that judges at the initial stages of this litigation are going to disagree,” Mirasola said of the lack of court precedent.
Mirasola said there is a chance the use of the National Guard without the consent of governors could make it to the Supreme Court.
President Trump has answered that he’s not ruling out using the ‘Insurrection Act’ to bypass court rulings.
“The text of the act is really old and really broad, and so there are a lot of questions about what the factual showings are that you need to invoke the Insurrection Act,” Mirasola said.
CBS Austin reached out to the Texas National Guard for answers about how many servicemembers are now in Illinois. It directed questions to the Pentagon, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.