Illinois sues to block Trump from deploying National Guard troops to Chicago

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) -Illinois filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block U.S. President Donald Trump from deploying hundreds of federalized National Guard troops into the streets of Chicago.

The Democratic-led state and the city of Chicago filed the lawsuit hours after a federal judge in Oregon on Sunday temporarily blocked Trump's administration from sending any National Guard troops to police Portland, Oregon.

The lawsuit took aim at a decision by the Trump administration over the weekend to federalize up to 300 members of the Illinois National Guard over the objections of Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker and another 400 from Texas to deploy into Chicago.

"These advances in President Trump’s long-declared 'War' on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous," the complaint alleged.

The Republican president is deploying the military to Illinois based on a "flimsy pretext" that alleges an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in a suburb of Chicago needs protecting as protests outside the building over Trump's immigration crackdown continue, according to the lawsuit.

The state argues that the Trump administration as a result cannot satisfy the legal prerequisites to allow it to federalize National Guard troops without Pritzker's blessing and is violating the Posse Comitatus Act, a federal law which sharply limits the use of the military for domestic enforcement.

The lawsuit also argues Trump's actions violate the U.S. Constitution's 10th Amendment, which protects states' rights, by usurping Pritzker's role as the commander-in-chief of the National Guard in Illinois and by infringing on the state's authority over local law enforcement.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The move to deploy troops to Illinois is the latest example of Trump expanding use of the U.S. military in his second term, which has included deploying troops along the U.S. border and ordering them to kill suspected drug traffickers on boats off Venezuela without due process.

National Guard troops are state-based militia forces that answer to their governors except when called into federal service.

National Guard troops have been deployed to police Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., and Trump has said he would send troops to several other Democratic-led cities, including Chicago and Portland, regardless of objections from local government officials.

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from using U.S. troops in California to fight crime on September 2, but that ruling is on hold while the administration appeals.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)