WASHINGTON, Tuesday, October 29, 2024 — The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to authorize the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops in the Chicago area to bolster its immigration enforcement efforts, marking a rare defeat for the administration’s legal strategy.
High Court Blocks Troop Deployment in Illinois
The decision comes after more than two months of review and could influence similar legal challenges in other cities.
- The justices rejected the administration’s request to overturn a lower court ruling that blocked the deployment.
- Three justices – Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Neil Gorsuch – publicly dissented from the decision.
- The case centered on the administration’s claim it needed troops to protect federal personnel and assets from “violent resistance” to immigration laws.
- The ruling doesn’t definitively resolve the legal questions, but sets a precedent for future challenges.
The court’s decision is a setback for President Donald Trump, who has frequently sought to utilize the military to address domestic issues, particularly related to immigration. The administration had argued the deployment was necessary to “protect federal personnel and assets against violent resistance to the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
What evidence was needed to justify the troop deployment? U.S. District Judge April Perry found no substantial evidence of a “risk of rebellion” in Illinois or any indication that protests had impeded the administration’s immigration crackdown.
Judge Perry initially blocked the deployment for two weeks in September, then extended the order indefinitely while awaiting the Supreme Court’s review. The administration initially sought to deploy troops from both Illinois and Texas, but the approximately 200 Texas National Guard troops sent to Chicago were ultimately sent home.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center in Broadview, a Chicago suburb, has been the site of ongoing and sometimes tense protests. Federal agents have previously used tear gas and other chemical agents against demonstrators and journalists during these events. Last week, 21 protesters were arrested and four police officers reportedly injured outside the Broadview facility, according to local authorities.
This Illinois case is one of several legal battles concerning National Guard deployments initiated by the Trump administration. Brian Schwalb, the Attorney General of the District of Columbia, has filed a lawsuit to halt the deployment of over 2,000 National Guardsmen to the nation’s capital. A total of 45 states have weighed in on the case, with 23 supporting the administration and 22 backing the attorney general’s complaint.
Currently, more than 2,200 troops from Republican-led states remain stationed in Washington, D.C., though the state of emergency declared by Mr. Trump in August expired a month later. A federal judge in Oregon has permanently blocked the deployment of the National Guard to that state, and the 200 troops stationed in California have been repatriated. A Tennessee state court also ruled in favor of Democratic lawmakers who challenged the National Guard deployment in Memphis, which Mr. Trump had likened to his crackdown in Washington, D.C.
In California, a judge ruled in September that the deployment in the Los Angeles area was unlawful. While only around 300 of the initially deployed troops remained at that time, the judge did not order their immediate withdrawal. The Trump administration has appealed the rulings in California and Oregon to the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
