The White House said Trump “authorized” the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard members, after vowing to send troops into Chicago. Meanwhile, Guard members arrived in Oregon from California.
Portland and Chicago are preparing for the possibility that National Guard members will be deployed to their streets, as President Trump moves ahead with his plan to send troops to Democratic-run U.S. cities that he says require help to control crime and protect federal law enforcement officers.
On Saturday, the White House said Trump “authorized” the deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard members, after vowing for weeks to send federal forces into Chicago. Also over the weekend, a federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the administration’s plan to deploy the Oregon National Guard to Portland, though troops have arrived in Oregon from California.
Guard members will be used to protect federal property as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Federal Protective Service agents and other federal employees, according to a copy of a federal memo viewed by NPR. They will be sent to places where there are “violent demonstrations” in the state or where they are likely to occur based on “current threat assessments”, the memo said.
Already this year, the Trump administration has sent National Guard members to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Trump has said he also intends to send troops to Memphis with the backing of Republican Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee.
The new deployment effort comes against the wishes of the Democratic governors of Oregon and Illinois, Tina Kotek and JB Pritzker, who say the Guard deployment is unnecessary and will escalate tensions.
