After Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said federal officials requested troops to be sent to Chicago, officials are urging the public not to escalate tensions.
What’s more, both Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul urged residents to record interactions with federal agents, and to engage in peaceful protests so as not to give the Trump administration justification to continue sending in more agents and federal troops.
“There is no emergency in Chicago. Don’t help (President Donald Trump) create one,” Raoul said. “Exercise your First Amendment rights, but do so peacefully, without violence or destruction.”
Pritzker said that he had received word the Department of Homeland Security had requested 100 military personnel be sent to Illinois to assist with providing security for buildings and agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other agencies amid protests aimed at enforcement actions around the Chicago area currently being undertaken as part of “Operation: Midway Blitz.”
The governor said more than 1,500 individuals have been taken into custody during that operation, but the government has not provided corroborating data on that number.
Protests have occurred across the Chicago area, but have mainly been focused at an ICE detention facility in suburban Broadview, leading to clashes between protesters and agents in which chemical agents have been deployed to disperse crowds, drawing intense scrutiny.
As those protests continue, Raoul and Pritzker both called on residents to document interactions with authorities, and to request identification from those who are wearing masks.
Chicago Politics
“If you see what you believe to be civil rights being violated, use your phone or camera to document it, to bear witness,” Raoul said. “My office is monitoring these images, and so are legal and civil rights organizations around the city, state and the nation. I’m here to say that no president can flout the Constitution.”
Pritzker echoed those comments in his own remarks Monday.
“To the people of Illinois, we need your help. Get our your cellphones. Record and narrate what you see,” he said. “Put it out on social media. Peacefully ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know that this is happening, and that we won’t stand for it.”
Raoul accused Trump and federal agents of trying to “provoke” residents into actions that could lead to more crackdowns.
“Clearly, this deployment of the federal officers into our well-policed central business district is meant to provoke Chicagoans. What the president is trying to do is foment chaos by inciting out-of-control protests,” he said. “So I urge Illinoisans, don’t take the bait.”
The possibility of federal troops being deployed to Chicago has been brought up on numerous occasions in recent weeks, drawing intense criticism from Illinois officials. The move follows similar deployments in other communities, including Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
Trump’s actions to deploy National Guard members in Los Angeles sparked pushback on multiple levels, with California Gov. Gavin Newsom filing lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of such a move. Ultimately a federal judge sided with Newsom, ruling that Trump had overstepped his authority in ordering some 4,000 California National Guard members and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles.
That deployment had been undertaken “solely to support immigration officials,” according to NBC News, and similar language could be used in a deployment to Chicago.
Raoul pushed back on such deployments, saying federal law severely curtails the president’s authority to use the National Guard for law enforcement operations.
“The Posse Comitatus Act limits federal government’s ability to use military for domestic law enforcement. None of the prerequisites for National Guard deployment exists here,” he previously said.
The act applies primarily to members of the U.S. military, but also limits National Guard members from conducting law enforcement actions against the wishes of a state’s governor. In those cases, it limits the Guard to protecting federal assets and employees, including ICE agents.
In contrast, the Insurrection Act of 1807 would permit the president to use military members in an American city to quell an insurrection or domestic violence, but Raoul has also repeatedly pushed back on using that legislation.
The National Guard has not confirmed that a deployment has been ordered into Illinois, and federal officials did not immediately comment on Pritzker’s remarks.