Politics
National Guard Arrives in Chicago Area as Local Officials Await Judge’s Ruling
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
The first members of the Texas National Guard have arrived in the Chicago area over the vehement objections of Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, who have accused President Donald Trump of declaring war on Chicago.
A Pentagon official on Tuesday confirmed 200 federalized Texas National Guard troops arrived in Illinois “in support of the Federal Protection Mission to protecting federal functions, personnel, and property.” The official said those guardsmen were mobilized for an initial period of 60 days.
The Associated Press saw military personnel in uniforms with the Texas National Guard patch at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles southwest of Chicago. On Monday, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott posted a picture on social media showing National Guard members from his state boarding a plane, but he didn’t specify where they were going.
Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
A spokesperson for Pritzker did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News.
Johnson told reporters at a Tuesday morning City Hall news conference that he had not been notified that Texas National Guard troops had entered the city.
“It’s illegal, unconstitutional,” Johnson said. “It’s dangerous. It’s wrong. This is not about deportations, this is not about safety for this president. This is about authoritarianism. It’s about stoking fear. It’s about breaking the Constitution.”
Johnson asked Chicagoans to “remain calm.”
“I understand the turmoil and the level of anxiety, that families are experiencing,” Johnson said. “I’m asking folks to operate in the long tradition of nonviolence, while also organizing the community to resist and find ways in the region to continue to come together and push back and against this.”
Johnson said he was “hopeful” that U.S. District Court Judge April Perry will block the deployment.
Perry is scheduled to hold a hearing at 11 a.m. Thursday to decide whether to grant the temporary restraining order requested by Chicago and Illinois officials.
Perry ordered Trump administration lawyers to tell her when National Guard troops “will arrive in Illinois; what municipalities within Illinois troops will be sent to and what the scope of the troops’ activities will be once here.”
It is be unprecedented for a governor to send National Guard troops into another state over the objections of that state’s elected officials at the request of the president.
No riots have been reported in Chicago, even as protesters have been tear-gassed and shot with pepper pellets by federal agents outside an ICE processing facility in west suburban Broadview.
Federal officials have only a “flimsy pretext” to deploy military officials to Chicago, according to the lawsuit. Deploying National Guard troops to Chicago “will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police.”
U.S. District Court Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, ruled late Saturday the president’s claims of daily unrest in Portland were “untethered to facts” and risked violating the U.S. Constitution by imposing military rule.
Immergut blocked federal officials from deploying the Oregon National Guard to Portland for 14 days. After her ruling, federal officials ordered members of the California National Guard to Oregon prompting Immergut to amend her order late Sunday to block federal officials from deploying any National Guard troops to Portland.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom called Trump’s effort to send California National Guard troops to Oregon a “breathtaking abuse of power.”
California National Guard troops have been under the control of federal military officials since June.
Lawyers for Newsom asked to intervene in the lawsuit filed by Illinois and Chicago against the Trump administration.
Matt Masterson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
