Judge declines to immediately block Guard deployment in Illinois

By Dan McCaleb
The Center Square

A federal judge on Monday declined to immediately block President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago to address violence in the city.

Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, said she needed more time to evaluate the state of Illinois’ request for a temporary restraining order and scheduled a hearing for Thursday.

The state sued the Trump administration earlier in the day. Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul called the deployment “Illegal” and “unconstitutional.”

Trump on Monday called Chicago a “war zone,” citing dozens of shootings and homicides in the city in recent weeks.

About 200 Texas National Guard troops are expected to arrive in Chicago by Tuesday. Barring a court-ordered stoppage, about 300 Illinois Guard members are to begin training Tuesday.

Also on Monday, federal prosecutors filed a murder-for-hire charge against a man they say offered $10,000 for the killing of a senior Border Patrol official in Illinois.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday issued an executive order to make Chicago an ICE free zone. Johnson’s office said the executive order creates clear mechanisms to prohibit federal immigration agents from using any city-owned property in their ongoing operations in Chicago.

• Illinois Editor Greg Bishop contributed to this report.