A federal judge in Chicago will hear arguments Thursday over whether to block the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops into Illinois against the will of Gov. JB Pritzker.
Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration Monday over the deployment, and their attorneys tried to convince U.S. District Judge April Perry to block it immediately. Instead, Perry called for briefs and set the stage for Thursday’s hearing.
Perry also cautioned the Trump administration to “strongly consider taking a pause on this until Thursday, so that we are not in a position where we are doing a full-fledged hearing with whatever has happened.”
Texas National Guard troops were then spotted Tuesday at a southwest suburban military training site. About 200 federalized National Guard troops were present in Illinois as of 3 p.m. Wednesday, court records show.
The troops are expected to help protect the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, as well as the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Friday.
Meanwhile, Trump’s lawyers met a midnight deadline set by Perry to respond to Illinois’ lawsuit. They argued that “levels of violence against federal law enforcement executing their lawful duties have reached an unprecedented high” in Chicago.
They also said commentary from officials like Pritzker “inflamed animosity” and “contributed to the need for assistance from the National Guard.”
Pritzker announced Sunday that President Donald Trump had ordered 400 members of the Texas National Guard to deploy into Illinois, Oregon and elsewhere. He also said that 300 Illinois National Guard troops were being federalized against his “vigorous objections.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals entered an order Wednesday allowing National Guard troops to be federalized but not deployed into Oregon. It also scheduled oral arguments over the deployment there for Thursday morning, simultaneous to the Chicago hearing.
Illinois’ lawsuit set up one of the biggest legal clashes yet between the Republican president and the state’s Democratic leaders. Trump called Wednesday for the jailing of Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson for “failing to protect ICE.”
Pritzker, a likely 2028 presidential candidate, responded by urging the president to “come and get me.”
Trump has so far not invoked the Insurrection Act but cited a separate law to deploy troops into Illinois, California and Oregon. That law allows the president to call into federal service members of the National Guard of any state if there is an invasion or rebellion — or if the president is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
The 9th Circuit, which hears cases from Oregon, California and other western states, found earlier this year that courts must be “highly deferential” to the president when it comes to the use of that law.
Illinois is not part of the 9th Circuit. Rather, appeals from Chicago’s U.S. District Court go to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Illinois’ lawsuit cites Trump’s long history of derogatory comments toward Chicago, dating to 2013 when he wrote online that “we need our troops on the streets of Chicago, not in Syria.”
It also notes his opposition toward so-called “sanctuary” cities and states, where policies bar local authorities from cooperating with deportation efforts. Trump’s Justice Department sued Pritzker, Johnson and others over those policies earlier this year, but the lawsuit was dismissed this summer by U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins.
Perry is the judge whose 2023 nomination by then-President Joe Biden to be Chicago’s top federal prosecutor was blocked by then-Sen. JD Vance, who is now Trump’s vice president. Biden later nominated her to the bench.