Part of President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Illinois are 400 members of the Texas National Guard, a move a former Illinois National Guard commander said he has “never seen before.”
Members of the National Guard are duty-bound to follow legal orders, and are also duty-bound to not follow illegal orders. Our expert said it’s quite unusual for guardsmen to be federalized, to be called up by the federal government, to take them from one state to another.
Illinois officials, including Attorney General Kwame Raoul, have harshly criticized Mr. Trump’s insistence on deploying military troops to Chicago because, in their words, “There is no public safety need or other emergency requiring National Guard intervention.”
The president has justified federalizing the National Guard and calling up troops by saying it is “protect ICE and other federal personnel and property” as protests outside the ICE detention and processing facility in Broadview, Illinois, have grown increasingly tense and volatile. Federal agents have deployed tear gas, smoke bombs, chemical agents and pepper balls against protesters and even CBS News Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei’s vehicle.
Gov. JB Pritzker has repeatedly declined to call up the guard during the period of increased immigration enforcement the government has dubbed “Operation Midway Blitz.” Pritzker has also accused the Trump administration, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Customs and Border Protection Commander Gregory Bovino of intentionally sowing chaos in order to justify the deployment.
“Saturday night, General Boyd received a memo purporting to call the National Guard into federal service under Section 12406 of the U.S. Code, even over the objection of the governor,” Raoul said Monday.
Raoul said the federal government did not provide any details on planned operations.
Richard Hayes is a former U.S. Army Major and former Commander of the Illinois National Guard. He said in all his years of service, he’s never seen anything like this.
“I’ve never seen that done before, to federalize a National Guard from another state to send them to another state,” he said. “In my 34 years, I’ve never seen that.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted on X saying he has authorized 400 members of the Texas National Guard to deploy to Illinois.
“In this case, the president is saying it’s to protect federal facilities and federal employees. That’s a legal order,” Hayes said.
In Los Angeles last spring, thousands of National Guard troops were called in after anti-ICE protests began, followed by more clashes with law enforcement. It was a controversial move, as troops were seen at times accompanying ICE personnel.
A U.S. District judge in California ordered the Trump Administration to stop using soldiers for things like searches and arrests.
“It would still be well within the rights of the National Guard to protect and defend unarmed personnel, but if it’s part of a law enforcement operation I think that would cross the boundaries,” Hayes said.
Hayes added that some soldiers could be court martialed for not following legal orders; but as noted earlier, they are also prohibited from following illegal orders. The distinction in the case of Illinois may end up being in the hands of a judge.
