U.S. District Judge April M. Perry has allowed the Trump administration to move forward with its plan to send troops to Illinois, but arguments against sending troops are scheduled for Oct. 9.
ICE protests erupt in Chicago area; 800 people reported arrested in raids
More than 800 immigration arrests have been reported since September 8, when protesters confronted ICE in the Chicago area during Operation Midway Blitz.
CHICAGO – A federal judge ruled on October 6 to allow the National Guard to be sent to Illinois, over the objections of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who denounced the Trump administration’s mobilization of troops as a “federal invasion of Illinois.”
U.S. District Judge April M. Perry ruled in an emergency hearing Oct. 6 that the National Guard can be deployed at least until Oct. 9, when a federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois has scheduled a hearing on the issue. Mr. Perry’s decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by the Illinois Attorney General’s Office on October 6, asking Mr. Perry to block President Trump’s deployment of troops.
The hearing in Chicago’s Everett McKinley Dirksen federal court came hours before Texas National Guard troops were scheduled to board planes for Illinois, where troops are expected to begin training for deployment as early as Oct. 7, Trump administration lawyers said.
White House lawyers said troops could be deployed from Texas “as early as tomorrow.” Lawyers for the federal government were unable to answer Perry’s questions about where exactly the troops would be deployed.
Mr. Pritzker held a press conference shortly after Mr. Perry’s decision, reiterating that the Trump administration was sending in troops despite the vocal opposition of local leaders.
“He has clearly decided to declare war on America’s great cities,” the governor said of President Trump. “Our citizens have been subjected to violence, intimidation and harassment.”
Perry said in court on Oct. 6 that a decision on sending troops could not be made immediately because the court needs to review hundreds of pages of court filings in the case.
“If I were the federal government, I would strongly consider putting a moratorium on this until Thursday,” Perry said, noting that anything the deployed troops had done before that could be used as evidence against the Trump administration.
Approximately 300 Illinois National Guard members will be deployed. As many as 400 members will be sent from Texas.
Midway Blitz strengthened
Judge Perry’s decision comes amid heightened activity in and around Chicago related to the White House’s Chicago-area immigration crackdown, known as Operation Midway Blitz, launched last month by President Donald Trump. President Trump said the crackdown was needed to catch the “worst of the worst” criminals, immigrants.
Perry’s trial began on October 6, when Illinois State Attorney Kwame Raoul filed a 69-page lawsuit over the Trump administration’s move to deploy the National Guard. Across the hall on the 17th floor of a downtown Chicago courthouse, a detention hearing was held for a woman accused of ambushing federal agents. She appeared in court bandaged after being shot by investigators.
Another court heard a lawsuit brought by local news organizations against the Trump administration over aggressive tactics by federal agents against journalists covering protests. Across the Chicago River, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson held a news conference to condemn the upcoming deployment.
“The only radical is the president who is sending the National Guard into our cities from all over the country,” said Johnson, a progressive who is frequently targeted by the White House. “We don’t want the National Guard in our city.
Also on October 6, Mr. Johnson issued an executive order prohibiting federal immigration agents from using city property to conduct operations. It is unclear what legal authority this order has.
Hundreds arrested, Black Hawk helicopter, city councilman detained
The numerous hearings and condemnations from Illinois officials come on the heels of a heated week in the city.
Immigration agents rappelling from a Black Hawk helicopter raided a South Side apartment where members of the Venezuelan gang Torren de Aragua were reportedly being held. The attack left the building in ruins. The 37 people arrested included two “confirmed” members of a Venezuelan gang, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
In addition to Mr. Johnson, some city officials have taken a notable stand against immigration enforcement officers. Councilman Jesse Fuentes, who represents a historically Puerto Rican neighborhood, was handcuffed and detained after asking an immigration officer if he had a warrant to arrest a local resident.
Homeland Security officials are facing challenges to their warrantless arrests in federal court in Chicago. However, the hearing on the arrest was postponed due to the government shutdown.
Immigration authorities said they had arrested more than 800 “illegal immigrants, including some of the worst criminals” since launching the raid.
Among the people Homeland Security officials recently celebrated arresting was Stefan Chebe, a “criminal illegal alien from Austria” who was convicted of sexual assault. Cristobal Carias Masin, a native of El Salvador, was convicted of statutory rape. and Ángel Galindo Viveros from Mexico, who was convicted of armed carjacking.
Complete information, including immigration status and criminal history, of those arrested by immigration officials could not be independently verified.
