"Approval Granted for Deployment of 300 National Guard Troops"
Incident Involving Border Patrol Agent Firing Spurs Action
U.S. President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard to Chicago, Illinois, following similar actions in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
According to major foreign news outlets including AFP, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson stated on the 4th (local time), "President Trump has approved the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to protect federal employees and assets," adding, "President Trump will not stand by and allow lawlessness to plague American cities."
Earlier, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker, a member of the Democratic Party, said, "This morning, the Trump administration's Department of Defense issued an ultimatum, demanding that I deploy troops, or else they would do so themselves." He pointed out, "It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to force a governor to deploy troops within our territory against our will." While the National Guard is typically under the command of the governor, the president can take command in emergencies.
The deployment of the National Guard to Chicago came after an incident earlier that morning in the city’s southwest, where a federal Border Patrol agent fired at a vehicle driver. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin explained, "At the time, the agent was rammed by the vehicle and surrounded by ten other vehicles," adding, "When the suspect charged, the agent was forced to fire defensively."
In contrast, President Trump's plan to deploy the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, was halted by a court order on the same day. The U.S. Department of Defense had sent an official letter to Oregon stating its intention to deploy 200 National Guard troops to Portland for 60 days. However, the state of Oregon and the city of Portland filed for an injunction with the court on the 28th of last month to block this action.
Federal District Judge Karin Immergut, who granted the injunction, emphasized that small-scale protests do not justify the deployment of federal troops, stating, "This country is governed by the Constitution, not martial law."
On the day the injunction was issued, 400 protesters in Portland marched to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility. The demonstrators, who included families with children and retirees, represented a wide range of ages and ethnicities. Nevertheless, federal agents fired tear gas at the crowd and forcibly dispersed them, arresting six participants.
In early September, the Northern District of California federal court also ruled that President Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles in June was illegal.
Most of the locations where President Trump has deployed the National Guard for security reasons are areas that predominantly support the Democratic Party.
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