Illinois Attorney General Warns of ”Perilous” and “Un-American” Potential Troop Deployment to Chicago
CHICAGO – Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul expressed deep concern over the potential deployment of federal troops to Chicago, characterizing it as a “dangerous” and “un-American” overreach of executive power. the warning comes amid ongoing legal challenges to the Trump governance’s efforts to deploy National Guard troops – including personnel from states like Texas – to the city, and as oral arguments in a related lawsuit are scheduled for Thursday.
The dispute centers on the legality of using federal troops for civilian law enforcement within U.S. cities. Raoul fears a scenario were the administration’s efforts escalate, potentially reaching a Trump-pleasant Supreme Court and resulting in troops being deployed despite legal objections. This raises important constitutional questions about the role of the military in domestic policing and the potential for federal overreach into state and local affairs.
A federal judge has not yet blocked the troop deployment as Illinois requested in its lawsuit. Richard Hayes, former Illinois National Guard Adjutant General, emphasized the obligation of soldiers to both follow legal orders and refuse illegal ones in a recent interview with Morning Edition.
“All soldiers – sailors, airmen, Marines, space guardians – they have a duty to follow legal orders just as much as they have a duty to not follow illegal ones. So you’re duty-bound either direction,” Hayes said.
Raoul acknowledged respect for National guardsmen but voiced concern over the direction they might be given. “I don’t have any negative feelings about National Guardsmen when they’re serving their country,but it’s how they’re being directed that I’m concerned about,” he stated. He further warned that such a deployment ”would be a very dangerous thing to occur,” adding,”It’s un-American. This is not what we expect in our country, to be subject to military deploying in our streets to do civilian law enforcement work. It’s not what we do in the United States of America.”
