Illinois Governor Calls Trump Deployment of Federal Troops an "Unconstitutional Invasion"

TIME

Illinois has followed California and Oregon in filing lawsuits to stop President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops to Democrat-led big cities.  The lawsuit filed Monday by Illinois and Chicago alleges Trump's authorization to deploy 300 troops to the Windy City is "unlawful and dangerous.” Trump continues to flex federal power and claims the troops are needed to protect federal immigration enforcement efforts and crack down on crime.

Transcript

00:00There is no invasion here, there is no insurrection here, and local and state law enforcement

00:06are on the job and managing what they need to.

00:10Without my permission and against my vigorous objections, the President has federalized

00:17300 Illinois National Guard military troops and hundreds of National Guard members from

00:24Texas and he has ordered them to activate for duty in Illinois.

00:30I have called upon Governor Abbott to immediately withdraw his support for this decision and

00:36refuse to allow Texas National Guard members to be used in this way.

00:41Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as

00:49pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities.

00:53I want to thank Attorney General Kwame Raul and his staff, along with my General Counsel

00:58Anne Spillane and our excellent Governor's Office legal team, for working tirelessly

01:04for weeks now to prepare federal lawsuits in anticipation of this unconstitutional invasion

01:11of Illinois by the federal government.

01:15Since the beginning of this invasion, families have been snatched up off the streets or removed

01:20from their homes, zip-tied and detained for hours, including especially U.S. citizens and legal

01:26residents of our state.

01:28Peaceful protesters have been hit with tear gas and shot with rubber bullets.

01:34Journalists simply reporting the facts on the ground have been targeted and arrested.

01:40U.S. citizens, including children, have been traumatized and detained.

01:45Why?

01:46To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act, so that he can send military troops to

01:54our city.

01:56He wants to justify and normalize the presence of armed soldiers under his direct command.

02:03Donald Trump's deranged depiction of Chicago as a hellhole, a war zone, and the worst and

02:11most dangerous city in the world was just complete BS.

02:16He clearly has decided to declare war on a great American city that has the lowest homicide

02:23rate in 60 years in a state that has record employment and near-record tourism.

02:31And he's done it for some unspoken reason.

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