WASHINGTON- Chicago is becoming the latest testing ground for President Trump's domestic deployment of military force, as hundreds of National Guard troops were expected to descend on the city.
The president said Wednesday that Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson should be jailed for failing to support federal agents, and continued to paint a dark and violent picture of both Chicago and Portland, Oregon, where Trump is trying to send federal troops but has so far been blocked by the courts.
“It's so bad,” Trump said at the White House on Wednesday. “It's crazy. It's like in the movies… where you have these bombed cities and these bombed people. It's worse than that. I don't think they can make a movie that bad.”
Pritzker this week characterized Trump's description of Chicago as “unhinged” and disingenuous. Federal agents are making the community “less safe,” the governor said, noting that residents do not want “Donald Trump to occupy their communities” and that people of color fear being profiled during immigration crackdowns.
Trump has disagreed with Democrats in Illinois and Oregon who are fighting his efforts, and has said twice this week that he is willing to use the Insurrection Act of 1807 if local leaders and courts try to stop him. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller also argued this week that a court ruling blocking Trump's deployments in Portland amounted to a “legal insurrection,” as well as “an insurrection against the laws and the Constitution of the United States.”
In a televised interview Monday, Miller was asked about his comments and whether the administration would abide by court rulings halting troop deployments in Illinois and Portland. Miller responded by saying that the president has “plenary authority” before going silent mid-sentence, a moment the host said may have been a technical problem.
“Plenary authority” is a legal term that indicates that someone has unlimited power.
The legality of the deployments in Portland and Chicago will face scrutiny in two federal courts on Thursday.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit will hear an appeal by the Trump administration in the Portland matter. A Trump-appointed judge, Karin Immergut, concluded that the White House had not only violated the law by activating the Oregon National Guard, but had also further defied the law by attempting to circumvent her order, sending the California National Guard instead.
That three-judge appeals panel is made up of two Trump appointees and one Clinton appointee.
Meanwhile, in Illinois, U.S. District Judge April Perry on Monday refused to block the emergency deployment of National Guard members, allowing the buildup to continue. On Thursday he will hear arguments about the legality of the operation.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of Trump's top political foes, has joined the fight against the president's deployment efforts.
The Trump administration sent 14 members of the California National Guard to Illinois to train troops from other states, according to court records filed Tuesday. Federal officials have also told California that they intend to extend Trump's federalization of 300 state Guard members into next year.
“Trump is embarking on a cross-country crusade to sow chaos and division,” Newsom said Wednesday. “His actions – and those of his Cabinet – run counter to our deeply held American values. He needs to stop this illegal charade now.”
On Wednesday night, there were few signs of National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago. But troops from other states, including the Texas National Guard, were waiting on the sidelines at an Army Reserve Center in Illinois on Tuesday.
Anticipating the deployment, Pritzker warned that if the president's efforts were left unchecked, he would put the United States on “the path toward full-blown authoritarianism.”
The Democratic governor also called the president's calls to jail him “unhinged” and called Trump a “wannabe dictator.”
“There's one thing I really want to say to Donald Trump: If you come for my people, you come through me. So come get me,” Pritzker said in an interview with MSNBC.
As tensions grew in Chicago, Trump hosted an event at the White House to address how he intends to crack down on Antifa, a nebulous left-wing anti-fascist movement that he recently designated a domestic terrorist organization.
At the event, the president said many of the people involved in the movement are active in Chicago and Portland, and once again attacked local and state leaders in both cities and states.
“You can say about Portland and you can certainly say about Chicago, what they're doing is not legal,” Trump said of the left-wing protests. “They will have to be very careful.”
Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, sharply criticized Trump for saying he should be jailed for his actions.
“This is not the first time Trump has attempted to wrongfully arrest a black man,” Johnson posted on social media. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Pritzker continued to attack Trump's efforts into the evening, accusing the president of “violating the Constitution and the law.”
“We need to come together and talk,” the governor said on social media.
Times staff writer Melody Gutierrez in Sacramento contributed to this report.
