ANDREW LIMBONG, HOST:
Last week, President Trump told the country's top military brass that U.S. troops have and will be used in American cities against what he called the enemy within. Yesterday, the Pentagon took federal control of at least 300 Illinois National Guard troops and ordered them to protect immigration enforcement officers and buildings. In recent days, protesters and federal officers have clashed in the Chicago area. With more on this story and Trump's use of the military in American cities, we turn to NPR reporter Luke Garrett. Hey, Luke.
LUKE GARRETT, BYLINE: Hey, Andrew.
LIMBONG: What do we know about this latest order of troops to Chicago?
GARRETT: Pentagon sources tell NPR that troops are not yet in Chicago and that the deployment is set for about 60 days. Their justification is to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and buildings, along with other federal workers and sites. Protests have broken out at some ICE facilities in and near Chicago. This weekend, federal immigration agents shot a woman they say had a gun and rammed her car into their cars. Now, for weeks, President Trump has publicly toyed with this idea of sending soldiers to Chicago and has up until now only increased immigration enforcement activity.
LIMBONG: What are leaders in Chicago and Illinois saying, responding to this troop deployment?
GARRETT: So Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has long opposed the ramped-up immigration enforcement and the deployment of National Guard troops in his state. On CNN today, Pritzker criticized the Department of Homeland Security and said their federal agents are the ones really inciting violence.
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JB PRITZKER: They want mayhem on the ground. They want to create the war zone so that they can send in even more troops.
GARRETT: Now, Pritzker says that DHS isn't, you know, really going after the bad guys as claimed, but instead racially profiling people in Chicago. President Trump denied this today and criticized the city's crime rate. Chicago has seen a nearly 30%, you know, decline in homicides this year, with 324 reported so far, but that's still more than one homicide a day, or eight a week.
LIMBONG: Chicago isn't alone here, right? The Trump administration made a very similar order federalizing the Oregon National Guard a week ago, but that deployment was blocked by a judge, right? What happened there?
GARRETT: That's right. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut ruled that the White House wasn't justified in federalizing the Oregon National Guard. She said the ongoing Portland protests outside an ICE facility did not qualify as a rebellion, so the Trump-appointed judge blocked the troop deployment. On his way to Marine One today, Trump criticized the judge, who he incorrectly referred to as a he.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I appointed the judge, and he goes like that. So I wasn't served well. Obviously, I don't know the judge, but if he made that kind of a decision...
GARRETT: The Trump administration is appealing this ruling, but, you know, it really does mark a significant legal challenge for the White House.
LIMBONG: All right. So Oregon troops aren't deploying to Portland, but we're also hearing now that California National Guard troops might be sent to the Rose City?
GARRETT: Yes. Just this afternoon, California Governor Gavin Newsom said Trump is deploying 300 California National Guard troops to Portland, Oregon. Do you remember when Trump federalized those troops a few months ago and sent them to Los Angeles during ICE protests?
LIMBONG: Yeah, yeah.
GARRETT: So Governor Newsom said the White House is sending these same troops up to Portland. And Oregon's Governor Tina Kotek said 101 troops arrived last night with more on the way. Newsom and Kotek say, you know, they will sue Trump over this. And in a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson says Governor Newsom should, quote, "stand on the side of law-abiding citizens instead of violent criminals destroying Portland," end quote.
LIMBONG: All right. That's a lot to keep track of. We've got less than a minute, but what are you taking all of these deployments to mean?
GARRETT: So President Trump has developed a playbook, and he's using it. You know, he tested this first in Washington, D.C., you know, where he has unique powers as the president. Because of this, the D.C. mayor and police chief really partnered with the White House as they surged troops and federal agents. The numbers show that this did accelerate crime reduction in D.C., even though some residents really protested against it. Trump has cited D.C. time and time again as he deploys troops to other major cities.
But Memphis, Chicago, Portland and Los Angeles are all part of states, which means they have unique legal protections. With these deployments, Trump is now testing the legal and political powers of the president. And with all these legal battles mounting, you know, all eyes are soon going to be on the Supreme Court, which has to really answer this major question - when can a president, you know, take over a state's National Guard?
LIMBONG: That's NPR's Luke Garrett. Luke, thanks for breaking it all down.
GARRETT: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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