Texas Governor praises the decision to send 400 National Guard troops from his state to Illinois, Oregon, and additional locations.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has strongly criticized what he described as former President Donald Trump’s “invasion,” following the announcement that 400 National Guard members from Texas would be deployed to Illinois, Oregon, and other states.
“I urge Governor Abbott to immediately retract any support for this action and refuse to cooperate,” Pritzker stated on X Sunday evening. “No president should dispatch military forces into a sovereign state without its knowledge, consent, or collaboration.”
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In response, Texas Governor Greg Abbott affirmed that he “fully authorized” the deployment of Texas National Guard troops to other states.
“You either enforce protection for federal employees completely or step aside and let the Texas Guard handle it,” Abbott declared in a post on X.
He added that the Texas National Guard “serve our nation with honor and dedication.”
This public disagreement between the Republican governor of Texas and the Democratic governor of Illinois unfolds amid recent mass arrests of immigrants and US citizens in Chicago, sparking widespread protests.
In a notable incident last week, federal agents reportedly descended from Black Hawk helicopters to raid a five-story apartment complex, according to NewsNation, which was granted access to observe the operation.
Local residents and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, who canvassed the neighborhood, reported that some individuals detained were zip-tied, including children and US citizens.
Rodrick Johnson, a US citizen briefly held, recounted that agents forcibly entered his home and restrained him with zip ties.
“I asked if they had a warrant and requested a lawyer,” the 67-year-old told the Chicago Sun-Times. “They never produced either.”
Adding complexity to the situation, a federal judge on Sunday issued a temporary injunction preventing the deployment of troops to Oregon after the state challenged the move in court.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have employed physical force, chemical irritants, and rubber bullets in attempts to suppress protests triggered by the immigration raids.
Simultaneously, a federal judge temporarily blocked a similar Trump administration plan to send National Guard troops from California to Oregon and its capital, Portland, late Sunday.
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced that Oregon and California had jointly filed a legal challenge against what he termed “the unlawful deployment of California National Guard troops to Oregon.”
Initially, the two West Coast states sought a limited injunction to prevent only California National Guard troops from being sent to Oregon. However, after learning that Texas National Guard members were also being mobilized, they expanded the request to cover National Guard deployments from any state to Oregon.
Explaining the rationale behind the legal action, Rayfield stated on Sunday that Oregon “will not accept the president’s effort to normalize the use of the US military in our cities.”
Last week, Trump addressed US military generals, expressing his expectation that the military would assist in confronting the “enemy within … before it spirals out of control.”
