Abbott sending 400 Texas National Guard members to Chicago

Illinois is the latest state to file a federal lawsuit to try to stop President Donald Trump from sending in National Guard troops to Democrat-led cities.

That lawsuit calls the deployment of the troops, including hundreds of service members from the Texas National Guard, "unlawful and dangerous."

Texas National Guard in Chicago

What they're saying:

Chicago is the third-largest American city.

The president said he’s sending in the National Guard to clean up that city, pointing to arrests and drops in crime in Memphis and Washington, D.C., where the Guard is already operating.

"It’s like a war zone, and then I listen to the governor and the mayor get up and say how they have it under control. They don’t. It’s probably worse than almost any city in the world," President Trump said.

"And I don’t think any American would disagree that Chicago needs more law enforcement reinforcement, that they need more resources," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. 

"Look at this headline from over the weekend. At least 30 people shot during the weekend in Democrat-run Chicago. Five of them were killed in one weekend. This is completely unacceptable. And the president wants to make American cities safer, and he’s willing to work with anyone to do it."

The White House also said the military troops are needed to protect federal property and employees in places like Chicago and Portland, Oregon, where there have been clashes between ICE agents and protesters.

Gov. Abbott authorizes deployment

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on social media said he has authorized the president to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to serve alongside 300 members from Illinois.

Abbott added that Chicago can either fully enforce protection for federal employees or get out of the way and let the Texas Guard do it.

Abbott posted a picture on Monday afternoon of several Texas National Guard troops boarding a military aircraft, ending the post with "deploying now."

Gov. Pritzker calls troops "political pawns" in "unconstitutional invasion"

The other side:

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the service members political props and pawns in the president’s illegal effort to militarize the nation’s cities.

Pritzker would prefer that Abbott worry less about Illinois and more about his own state.

"I have been very clear that he should withdraw his approval of the president calling up his Texas National Guard, and again, Gov. Abbott should stay the hell out of Illinois’ business," he said.

Pritzker said his staff has filed federal lawsuits in anticipation of what he called an "unconstitutional invasion by the federal government."

"Challenging Donald Trump’s unlawful and unwarranted plans to deploy armed military troops to Chicago. There is no insurrection here. There is no invasion here. And local and state law enforcement are on the job and managing what they need to," he said.

A federal judge has, for now, blocked the president’s attempt to send the guard to Portland, Oregon.

"The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly for the reason that their city or state leadership has fallen out of the president's political favor," said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

What's next:

The Trump administration has until midnight on Wednesday to respond to the Illinois lawsuit. 

A hearing is set for Thursday.  

Expert on Presidential Authority and Legality

Dig deeper:

Cal Jillson, a SMU political science professor, said it’s not unprecedented for the president to use the National Guard this way. But it’s very unusual and always subject to conflict.

"This is part of a broad pattern where President Trump is trying to push the edges of his legitimate authority and often times pushing past the edge we thought was already defined," Jillson said.

Jillson chimed in on the likelihood of the president being able to invoke the insurrection act. 

"It's very difficult to define what’s happening in Chicago and Portland as an insurrection against the federal government. It just isn’t," he said.

He expects this will go all the way up to the supreme court. 

"There’s a lot of resistance to President Trump’s use of the national guard, let alone the military, United States Army, for civilian law enforcement purposes, which is what it appears to be."

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