A federal judge in Chicago has temporarily prevented the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops to the city.
Judge April Perry heard arguments Thursday from the federal government and the state of Illinois. The Trump administration has claimed that protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations amounted to insurrection. But Perry said the Department of Homeland Security’s “perceptions of events are simply unreliable.“
While reading her oral ruling, Perry said she has “seen no credible evidence that there is a danger of a rebellion in the state of Illinois.” Trump and the White House were caught Thursday posting video clips of arrests that actually occurred in Florida while insisting that Chicago “is in chaos.”
Perry issued a restraining order curtailing troop deployments there for 14 days.
“I find that allowing the National Guard to deploy at the Broadview processing center or anywhere else in Illinois will only add fuel to the fire,” she said, according to The New York Times.
Perry then mentioned how Trump has ordered about 200 members of the Texas National Guard to the city, on top of about 300 from the Illinois National Guard.
“Chicago’s history of strained police-community relations is extremely well documented but also fairly nuanced,” the Biden appointee said. “It’s something that I think the state and local authorities understand extremely well, and it can be hard for federal authorities, and certainly those from Texas, to appreciate.”
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whom Trump has threatened with arrest for allegedly “failing to protect ICE officers,” resoundingly approved the judge’s ruling.
“Donald Trump is not a king — and his administration is not above the law,“ he wrote on X. ”Today, the court confirmed what we all know: there is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago."
Mayor Brandon Johnson, about whom Trump made the same complaint, commended Perry for “establish[ing] that the Trump administration is unreliable.”
“They lie, misrepresent, and put people in danger,” he added. “We will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to end the Trump administration’s war on Chicago.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also applauded the ruling.
When reached for comment, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson gave the Daily Beast the following statement:
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities and we expect to be vindicated by a higher court.”
The administration is expected to appeal, just as it did when a judge ruled that Trump’s deployment of thousands of National Guard troops to Los Angeles this summer was illegal.
Some California National Guard troops, the Trump administration revealed in court filings in the Chicago case, have arrived in Illinois partially to “share any relevant lessons learned from the federal protection mission in California.”
Trump administration officials have also been discussing another option: when and how they could invoke the Insurrection Act.
