With the arrival of soldiers from the Texas National Guard in Illinois, another escalation level is reached in the conflict between the US government and the state. The democratic governor of the state, JB Pritzker, who has been against a commitment of national gardens at the behest of Republican President Donald Trump for weeks, said on Tuesday that soldiers had been received from Texas. These were initially not to be seen on the streets of Chicagos. The big question is: will that change soon?
US media unanimously reported that the soldiers had been sighted in a military facility in Elwood. This is almost 90 kilometers from the city center of Chicagos. After New York and Los Angeles, Chicago is the third largest city in the United States and the largest in the state in the middle west. Texas in turn is the second largest state in the United States and is located in the south on the border with Mexico.
On the late Monday evening (local time), the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, posted a photo of soldiers from the Texas National Guard on X – accompanied by the words: “Ready at any time. Now in action.”
Court decision on national guard use is still pending
The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago try to stop the use of national guards in their field in court, but initially remained unsuccessful. Pritzker showed that he expects a judicial decision on Thursday.
The lawsuit states that a commitment of members of the National Guard based on the order of the US government in Illinois is illegal. Both national guards from Illinois and Texas are explicitly included.
What does the US government plan to do?
It is still unclear whether and if so, when, where and what is used for national guards in Illinois. Trump has threatened to use soldiers in Chicago for weeks – against the will of city top and state. At the weekend, US defense minister Pete Hegseth then ordered around 300 national guards from Illinois under federal control. Accordingly, they should protect federal officials, for example from the immigration authority ICE, and federal property.
According to Pritzker, Trump also had 400 national guards from the Republican ruled Texas to use them in Illinois, Oregon and elsewhere in the USA. He spoke of “Trump’s invasion”.
The US government had already prompted the immigration authority ICE in Chicago last month. In the metropolis of millions, this has met with a lot of criticism: People there have been protesting ICE raids there for weeks.
In order to push back protests against ICE raids, Trump had sent soldiers to Los Angeles months ago. Weeks ago, the US President also prompted the national guard in the US capital Washington-but there in order to contain the crime from his point of view.
The example of Chicago now shows how these two reasons for the US government are blurred for soldiers’ operations in Germany: If the defense minister’s order is mentioned, Trump only referred to crime again on Tuesday: “Chicago is a great city in which there is much crime, and if the governor cannot perform his task, we will take over it”, we will do it. he said in the White House.
Critics: Trump wants to intimidate political opponents
Critics accuse Trump to organize a show and intimidate political opponents with the use of the national guard. They also warn of normalization of soldier inserts in Germany.
In the United States, the governors of a state usually have control over the National Guard – the US President can only take command in times of war or national emergencies. As part of the US armed forces, the National Guard can generally be used for natural disasters, unrest or emergencies inside.
