National Guard arrives in Illinois as Trump pursues crime crackdown

The first contingent of President Trump’s call-up of National Guard troops arrived in Illinois on Tuesday as the administration pushes to crack down on crime in some of the country’s major cities.

Local news captured video of members of the Texas National Guard as they arrived at a facility about 50 miles outside of Chicago. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed their arrival, saying they were “on the ground and ready to go.”

“They are putting America first by ensuring that the federal government can safely enforce federal law,” he said on social media.

Illinois officials had told the troops to stay home, complaining that they would inflame tensions already running high with protests over an immigration enforcement surge.

Indeed, it’s that surge — and unruly protests against it — that spurred Mr. Trump to call up the troops.

Illinois and Chicago had already sued to try to stop the deployment, and the judge in the case has scheduled a hearing for Thursday.

Another judge in Portland, Oregon, has blocked a National Guard deployment to that state, saying the protests in that city were too minor to justify the extraordinary remedy of federal troops.

The Trump administration has appealed that decision and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has a hearing scheduled for Thursday.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been among Mr. Trump’s most vocal opponents, blaming the forceful federal response to protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for making the protesters even madder and more unruly.

On Tuesday, he said the deployment was part of a “march toward autocracy.”

“Their plan all along has been to cause chaos and then they can use that chaos to consolidate Donald Trump’s power,” he said.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson declared city property to be “ICE-free” zones on Monday.  On Tuesday, the mayor called for federal agents to be prosecuted if they break his order.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier in the day, Sen. Richard Durbin, Illinois Democrat, asked Attorney General Pam Bondi what the legal justification was for the deployment.

She responded by questioning his commitment to public safety, saying Chicago’s murder rate is five times that of New York City.

“I wish you loved Chicago as much as you hate President Trump,” Ms. Bondi said. “If you’re not going to protect your citizens, President Trump will.”

Mr. Trump has now deployed guard troops to Chicago, Los Angeles, the District of Columbia and Portland, and Memphis, Tennessee, is looming next.

In the District of Columbia, the troops helped establish safety perimeters to allow federal agents to go into dangerous neighborhoods.

In Los Angeles, they protected federal buildings and immigration officers from protesters as they fanned throughout the city to carry out the president’s deportation surge.