Texas National Guard lands in Chicago, sparking feuds between state leaders, Trump
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Members of the Texas National Guard have touched down in Chicago as part of a federal operation. The troops, now under the direction of President Donald Trump, were sent by Gov. Greg Abbott, R-Texas, to protect federal employees.
This comes after President Trump deployed federal troops to Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, in a bid to reduce violent crime.
“(They) need to own up to the fact that they are not doing their job to maintain the safety and security of federal officials who are required to enforce federal law in their city and in their state,” Abbott told Fox News Tuesday.
Legal experts told KXAN that Illinois officials have not approved the deployment, which makes it unprecedented
“I am not aware of a situation where the National Guard has been deployed under this statute in another state where that state’s governor has rejected it,” University of Houston Law Center professor Chris Mirasola said.
Governors Gavin Newsom, D-California, and J.B. Pritzker, D-Illinois, are calling the move an “invasion.” Abbott responded, telling Fox News these reactions are merely ploys for Democrats looking to secure their party’s nomination.
“Pritzker and others have failed to provide security,” Abbott told Fox News Tuesday. “It doesn’t matter which one of them wins the nomination, because they are utter failures for our country.”
Despite the ongoing feuds, one military policy expert said Abbott is within his right to cede troops over to Trump’s control.
“It’s perfectly appropriate for the governor of Texas to authorize a request that the president of the United States has made,” Katherine Kuzminski, director of studies at the Center for a New American Security, said.
The powers of the president to federalize National Guard members is outlined by Title 10 of the United States Code. And while Title 10 allows governors to grant the president authority over state troops, it also outlines that the governor on the receiving end must agree to have troops deployed in their state.
“There is a firm rooting in both U.S. history and tradition, but also in the law against the domestic use of the National Guard,” Kuzminski said.
Kuzminski added that governors in the past have refused to accept federal troops, notably during desegregation in the 1950s and 1960s. The key difference is that National Guard troops can still be deployed if a state government is refusing to enforce a federal law, which Kuzminski said right now isn’t the case.
“If the federal government wants to expend their resources to enforce a law, so be it,” Kuzminski said, adding that they are not being deployed “for law enforcement purposes. They were deployed for the protection of federal property.”
Trump has ordered national guardsmen also be deployed to Portland, Oregon, but that move has been temporarily blocked by a federal court order.
A similar federal court hearing will take place in Chicago on Thursday morning. If the judge rules in the state’s favor, Texas troops would be forced to move back to the Lone Star State.
