What happened
The Texas National Guard began operations in the Chicago area Wednesday night, the Pentagon said, as about 1,000 demonstrators marched down Michigan Avenue to protest the deployment and the aggressive, sometimes violent, federal immigration operations around the city. Earlier Wednesday, President Donald Trump said on social media that Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) “should be in jail for failing to protect ICE Officers,” echoing a claim from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
Who said what
“This is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested,” Johnson said on social media. “I’m not going anywhere.” In an interview on MSNBC, Pritzker called Trump a “wannabe dictator,” adding: “If you come for my people, you come through me. So come and get me.”
Roughly 500 National Guard troops — 200 from Texas, 300 from Illinois — are gathered at a military base outside Chicago, and their mission isn’t clear. Pritzker said nobody had informed him what they will be doing. A U.S. Northern Command spokesperson said Wednesday night the Guard members had begun “actively protecting federal personnel and property.” White House spokespeople have frequently suggested the troops will help fight violent crime, but Trump and Noem have described the Guard deployments as aimed at furthering the administration’s less-popular mass deportation effort.
What next?
A federal judge has blocked Trump’s Guard deployment to Portland, and the president’s push to send troops into unwilling cities “will be further tested in two court hearings” today, Reuters said. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will review Trump’s challenge to the Portland order, and a federal judge in Illinois will decide whether to bar troops from Chicago.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Critics’ choice: Watering holes for gourmandsFeature An endless selection of Mexican spirits, a Dublin-inspired bar, and an upscale Baltimore pub
-
Argentinian beef is at the center of American farmers’ woesThe Explainer ‘It feels like a slap in the face to rural America,’ said one farmer
-
‘Businesses that lose money and are uncompetitive won’t survive’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Chicago: Scenes from a city under siegeFeature Chicago is descending into chaos as masked federal agents target people in public spaces and threaten anyone who tries to document the arrests
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
