Oct 6 (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.
