Illinois' top law enforcement officer says the Trump administration is using the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago to militarize American cities and he doesn't trust the administration to follow laws that would prevent an escalation.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said on NPR's Morning Edition on Tuesday that sending the troops is a political action that President Trump has been telegraphing for months, regardless of conditions on the ground in Chicago.
“The only chaos we see is ICE and Border Patrol firing pepper gas at civilians, journalists, even Chicago Police officers have been subjected to it,” Raoul said.
Raoul is suing to block the deployment. He argues federalizing National Guard troops can only be done in case of a foreign invasion or rebellion or if the federal government can’t carry out its responsibilities. “None of those conditions exist,” Raoul said.
The White House is sending National Guard troops to Chicago and other U.S. cities claiming they are needed to protect ICE agents and immigration facilities.
A federal judge on Monday set a hearing on the case for Thursday and rejected the plaintiff’s request to block immediately block the deportation.
A former head of the Illinois National Guard says any federalized troops brought to Chicago will be limited in what they can legally do.
Former Adjutant General Richard Hayes said on Morning Edition that National Guard troops being deployed from Texas cannot perform law enforcement in Illinois unless President Trump invokes the Insurrection Act.
“All soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, space guardians, they have a duty to follow legal orders just as much as they have a duty to not follow illegal ones, so you are dutybound either direction,” Hayes said.
Raoul said he's not assured that troops will be ordered to stick to what's legal, such as protecting federal facilities and unarmed federal employees.
“In normal times I would be [assured], with normal leadership, but what we’ve seen in the Department of Defense, and [has] a disrespect for our nation’s well-decorated military leaders,” Raoul said. "I'm concerned about who the directions are going to come from and that does cause alarm."
Hayes said they would only have limited law enforcement capabilities if deployed by the state. Gov. JB Pritzker has rejected calls from Trump to do that, saying the deployment of troops is unnecessary.
Pritzker has called the deployment of federalized National Guard troops as an “invasion.”
