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Illinois officials went to court on Monday to stop US President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops to Chicago, as the clash between Democratic-led states and the Republican administration escalates during an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s third-largest city.
The legal challenge came just hours after a judge blocked Trump’s Guard deployment in Portland, Oregon. A judge in Illinois refused to immediately block the US president’s order.
The lawsuit in Chicago also raised the stakes after a violent weekend: Authorities said a woman was shot by a federal agent when Border Patrol vehicles were boxed in and struck by other vehicles.
The city’s police superintendent rejected suggestions that his officers were on the government’s side in volatile situations like that one.
The Trump administration has portrayed the cities as war-ravaged and lawless amid its crackdown on illegal immigration. Officials in Illinois and Oregon say military intervention is not needed and that federal involvement is only escalating the situation.
The lawsuit alleges that “these advances in President Trump’s long-declared ‘War’ on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous.”
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker says a court hearing was scheduled for Thursday.
“Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarise our nation’s cities,” said the city’s Democrat leader.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Trump has hinted at his willingness to invoke the Insurrection Act “if it was necessary” – especially if the courts or state and local officials delayed or blocked his plans from deploying the troops.
“I’d do it if it was necessary. So far it hasn’t been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” said Trump at the Oval Office.
“If I had to enact it, I’d do that. If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that. I mean, I want to make sure that people aren’t killed. We have to make sure that our cities are safe,” he continued.
The Insurrection Act is a law from 1807 which allows the incumbent president to mobilise US military to carry out civilian law enforcement duties under certain circumstances.
The law was last invoked in 1992 by former President George H. W. Bush to quell the deadly 1992 Los Angeles riots.
Trump says the law would be a last ditch effort to restore law and order in states and cities which he has previously described as “hellholes, worse than Afghanistan.”
The White House is expected to appeal the judge’s block of deployment in Portland, which remains in effect until at least 19 October.
Democrat lawmakers say they will continue to fight the Trump administration and protect US citizens from what they described as an impending “threat of military occupation”.
Additional sources • AP
