WATCH: Use of National Guard debated in U.S. Senate as Illinois case lingers

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – While the use of the National Guard remains on hold in Illinois, pending a legal challenge, the U.S. Senate is debating having troops on American streets.

In October, President Donald Trump ordered the National Guard to the streets of Illinois to assist in protecting federal personnel and property around enforcing immigration law after already deploying troops in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles and later in North Carolina and elsewhere. The state of Illinois sued and a district judge blocked the Guard’s deployment on preliminary grounds. The issue is pending in an appeals court. The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene.

Illinois U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Schaumburg, told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday that using the National Guard in such a way sends the wrong message.

“We’ve seen [Department of Homeland Security] agents dressing in camouflage and wielding military style weapons,” Duckworth said. “They’re making it hard for Americans to tell the difference between abusive federal agents and professional troops.”

U.S. Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Missouri, said there’s been a more than 1,000% increase in attacks against immigration enforcement officers.

“This is insane and the condoning people blocking off vehicles from enforcing the law, these [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] agents, this is a powder keg. It’s a powder keg,” Schmitt told the committee.

Court documents show the federal government justified the deployment of the guard in Illinois to protect federal personnel and property from protesters that turned violent around immigration enforcement.

Duckworth said it’s the immigration officials who are the threat to Illinois communities.

“It is not ICE agents that are being attacked,” Duckworth said. “ICE agents are the ones who teargassed over two dozen Chicago police officers. ICE agents are the ones who teargassed toddlers.”

Schmitt said the rhetoric against immigration enforcement has gone too far.

“The president of the United States has very clear authority to send them to protect federal buildings and to protect law enforcement, which is all that’s happening,” Schmitt said.

The hearing comes on the heels of two Virginia National Guard soldiers being shot blocks from the White House on the day before Thanksgiving, one of whom later died.