AI-Summary – News For Tomorrow
President Trump’s threat to deploy military personnel to U.S. cities under the Insurrection Act has sparked intense legal battles with Democratic-led cities. Despite opposition from local officials, who accuse him of politicizing the military, Trump has ordered National Guard troops to cities like Chicago and Portland. This action has raised concerns about the militarization of cities and the erosion of states’ rights. Illinois sued to block Guard deployments, while a judge temporarily blocked deployment to Portland. The Insurrection Act allows military deployment in emergencies, but its use is controversial and typically requires a state governor’s invitation.
News summary provided by Gemini AI.
Oct 7 (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s threat to invoke a federal anti-insurrection law to expand his deployment of military personnel to U.S. cities has intensified the legal battle between the president and Democratic-led cities, as hundreds of National Guard troops from Texas on Tuesday prepared to patrol the streets of Chicago.
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“We have an Insurrection Act for a reason,” Trump said. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”
Trump has ordered Guard troops sent to Chicago, the third-largest U.S. city, and Portland, Oregon, following his earlier deployments to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. In each case, he has done so despite staunch opposition from Democratic mayors and governors, who say Trump’s claims of lawlessness and violence do not reflect reality.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, accused Trump of intentionally trying to foment violence in Chicago by sending in immigration agents and Guard troops, which the president could then use to justify further militarization.
“Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,” Pritzker told reporters on Monday.
Illinois and Chicago sued the Trump administration on Monday, seeking to block orders to federalize 300 Illinois Guard troops and send 400 Texas Guard troops to Chicago. During a court hearing, Justice Department lawyers told a federal judge that hundreds of Texas Guard troops were already in transit to Illinois.
The judge, April Perry, permitted the deployment to proceed for now but ordered the U.S. government to file a response by Wednesday.
National Guard troops are state-based militia who normally answer to the governors of their states and are often deployed in response to natural disasters. A federal law, the Posse Comitus Act, generally bars the military from domestic law enforcement, but the Insurrection Act operates as an exception to that law.
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