Illinois Sues to Block National Guard Deployment as Trump Escalates Clash With States

The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit on Monday against President Donald Trump, seeking to block his administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops to the city. The move came as hundreds of Guard members from Texas began heading toward Chicago under federal orders.

The lawsuit marks the latest flashpoint in Trump’s escalating clash with Democratic-led states and cities over the domestic use of military forces. In response to the legal challenge, Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1792, a rarely used law that allows the president to deploy troops for civilian law enforcement without state consent.

“I’d do it if it was necessary,” Trump said at the White House. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”

The dispute erupted after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered 300 Illinois National Guard members into federal service and mobilized another 400 from Texas for deployment to Chicago. While Illinois’ request for a temporary restraining order was pending, federal lawyers told a judge that the Texas troops were already en route.

US District Judge April Perry allowed the deployment to proceed temporarily but ordered the federal government to respond to Illinois’ suit by midnight Wednesday.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker accused Trump of unlawfully federalizing state troops and escalating tensions. “Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,” Pritzker said, adding that federal officers had already used tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters in Chicago.

The state’s lawsuit argues that Trump’s actions violate the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts military involvement in domestic law enforcement, as well as the Tenth Amendment, which protects states’ rights. It claims the administration lacks the legal grounds to federalize Illinois troops without the governor’s consent.

Trump defended his actions, insisting that Chicago was “like a war zone” and that local leaders had “lost control.”

The Illinois case follows similar lawsuits filed by Oregon, California, and Washington, D.C., all challenging what they describe as Trump’s unprecedented and unlawful use of the military to police American cities. Courts have yet to issue final rulings, though judges in Oregon and California have signaled that Trump may have exceeded his authority.

Illinois officials say the federal deployment is based on a “flimsy pretext” that an ICE facility near Chicago needs protection from protesters — an argument they reject as politically motivated.