Chicago – October 07, 2025
The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago sued President Donald Trump on Monday, seeking to block the deployment of federalized National Guard troops to Chicago, as hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas headed to the nation’s third-largest city.
Trump then escalated the widening clash with Democratic-led states and cities over the domestic use of military forces, threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act as a means to circumvent court restrictions on deploying troops where they are unwanted by local officials.
Illinois had sued in response to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s orders over the weekend to bring 300 Illinois National Guard members under federal control and then to mobilize another 400 Texas National Guard troops for deployment to Chicago.
While Illinois’ request for a temporary restraining order plays out, U.S. lawyers told a court hearing on Monday that Texas National Guard troops were already in transit to the state. Trump then issued another memorandum calling up 300 Illinois National Guard troops, reinforcing Hegseth’s previous order.
U.S. District Judge April Perry allowed the federal government to continue the deployment in Chicago while it responds to Illinois’ suit. She set a deadline of midnight Wednesday for the U.S. to reply.
The Illinois dispute came after a federal judge in Oregon on Sunday temporarily blocked Trump’s administration from sending any National Guard troops to police the state’s largest city, Portland.
Shortly after Perry’s ruling, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office he might invoke the Insurrection Act of 1792, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement, for which there is little recent precedent.
