United States President Donald Trump has authorised the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago, issuing the order after weeks of threatening to do so over the objections of local leaders.
“President Trump has authorised 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said on Saturday.
“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”
The escalating crisis across the country pits Trump’s increasingly militarised anti-crime and migration crackdown against opposition Democrats who accuse him of an authoritarian power grab.
The directive comes after weeks of Republican threats to send troops to the Midwestern city over the wishes of local leaders.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin called the move a “shameful chapter in our nation’s history,” adding that the “President is not intent on fighting crime. He is intent on spreading fear.”
Chicago and Portland are the latest flashpoints in the Trump administration’s rollout of raids, following the deployment of troops to Los Angeles and Washington
The raids have seen groups of masked, armed men in unmarked cars and armoured vehicles target residential neighbourhoods and businesses, sparking protests.
Trump has repeatedly called Portland “war-ravaged” and riddled with violent crime, but in Saturday’s court order, US District Judge Karin Immergut wrote “the President’s determination was simply untethered to the facts.”
Although the city has seen scattered attacks on federal officers and property, the Trump administration failed to demonstrate “that those episodes of violence were part of an organised attempt to overthrow the government as a whole,” Immergut wrote in granting a temporary restraining order.
Protests in Portland did not pose a “danger of rebellion”, and “regular law enforcement forces” could handle such incidents, Immergut said.
Oregon Senator Ron Wyden applauded the order, saying the “victory supports what Oregonians already know: we don’t need or want Donald Trump to provoke violence by deploying federal troops in our state.”
