Members of the Texas National Guard arrived in Chicago on Tuesday despite Illinois officials repeatedly rejecting President Donald Trump’s pledge to deploy the military in certain Democrat-led cities, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Trump told Newsmax on Monday that Chicago will become a “safe city” again, crediting federal efforts and a renewed law-and-order push reminiscent of what he implemented in Washington, D.C.
Several troops dressed in camouflage and carrying long guns were seen on federal property in Chicago’s far southwest suburbs Tuesday morning, the Tribune reported.
National Guard soldiers, with “T” patches on their arms identical to the ones shown in a picture tweeted by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday, were seen walking in and out of mobile sleeping units on the site, the Tribune noted.
A defense contractor told the Tribune on Monday that sleepers, showers and a dining hall for 250 people were being set up at a makeshift base.
Officials in Illinois had braced for the possible arrival of the National Guard while a legal challenge to Trump’s plan to send hundreds of troops to the Chicago area still simmers, and critics vigorously pan the deployment as an assault on the city.
Illinois Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker has said some 300 of the state’s guard troops were to be federalized and sent to Chicago, along with 400 from Texas.
“He wants to justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command,” Pritzker said of Trump.
He accused the president of using troops as “political props” and “pawns.”
A federal judge gave the Trump administration two days to respond to a lawsuit filed Monday by Illinois and Chicago challenging the plan. A hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
The lawsuit alleges, “These advances in President Trump’s long-declared ‘War’ on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous.”
Trump’s bid to deploy the military on U.S. soil over local opposition has triggered a conflict with blue-state governors. In Oregon, a judge during the weekend blocked the Guard’s deployment to Portland.
The Trump administration has portrayed the cities as war-ravaged and lawless amid its crackdown on illegal immigration.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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