ELWOOD, Ill. (AP) — National Guard members from Texas were getting settled at an Army Reserve center in Illinois on Tuesday, the most visible sign yet of the Trump administration's plan to send troops to the Chicago area despite a lawsuit and vigorous opposition from Democratic elected leaders.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has accused President Donald Trump of using troops as “political props” and “pawns,” said he didn't get a heads-up from Washington.
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U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, center, stands on the roof of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Protesters confront federal law enforcement officers outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Police and Federal officers stand guard an area by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A protester is doused with milk, water, and saline after tear gas in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Federal officers hold down a protester in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Federal enforcement officers stand guard near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The Associated Press saw military personnel in uniforms with the Texas National Guard patch at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Chicago. Trucks marked Emergency Disaster Services pulled in and out, dropping off portable toilets and other supplies. Trailers were set up in rows. Extra fencing was spread across the perimeter.
The Guard's exact mission was not immediately clear, though the Trump administration has an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s third-largest city, and protesters have frequently rallied at an immigration building outside Chicago in Broadview. The president repeatedly has described Chicago in hostile terms, calling it a “hell hole” of crime, although police statistics show significant drops in most crimes, including homicides.
Trump’s bid to deploy the military on U.S. soil over local opposition has triggered a conflict with blue state governors. Illinois and Chicago are urging a federal judge to intervene and stop “Trump’s long-declared ‘War’” on the state. A court hearing on their lawsuit is scheduled for Thursday. In Oregon, a judge over the weekend blocked the Guard’s deployment to Portland, Oregon.
Pritzker had predicted Monday that Illinois National Guard troops would be activated, along with 400 from Texas. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott posted a picture on social media showing troops boarding a plane and declared, “ever ready.”
Pritzker said he “literally canceled everything” Saturday in anticipation of a call from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
"They have not picked up the phone and called me. Not once,” Pritzker said Tuesday at a gathering of business, cultural and political leaders in Minneapolis.
The nearly 150-year-old Posse Comitatus Act limits the military’s role in enforcing domestic laws. However, Trump has said he would be willing to invoke the Insurrection Act, which allows a president to dispatch active duty military in states that are unable to put down an insurrection or are defying federal law.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered flight restrictions over the Army Reserve Center for security reasons until Dec. 6.
Robert Hartley, 62, who works at Raceway Pizza & More near the site, said he has doubts about putting the Guard on duty.
“I think the president might be overstepping his boundaries," Hartley said.
The sight of armed Border Patrol agents making arrests near famous landmarks has amplified concerns from Chicagoans already uneasy after an immigration crackdown that began last month. Agents have targeted immigrant-heavy and largely Latino areas.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order Monday barring federal immigration agents and others from using city-owned property, such as parking lots, garages and vacant lots, as staging areas for enforcement operations.
In Memphis, Tennessee, meanwhile, police Chief Cerelyn Davis said Guard troops could arrive by Friday. She said a small group of commanders were already in the city, working on planning and logistics.
Republican Gov. Bill Lee, who supports the effort, has said the troops will be deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to “play a critical support role” for local law enforcement, though that role hasn’t been precisely defined yet.
Since starting his second term, Trump has sent or talked about sending troops to 10 cities, including Baltimore; Memphis; the District of Columbia; New Orleans; and the California cities of Oakland, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
Most violent crime around the U.S. has declined in recent years. In Chicago, homicides were down 31% to 278 through August, police data shows. Portland's homicides from January through June decreased by 51% to 17 this year compared with the same period in 2024.
In Portland, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility has been the site of nightly protests for months, peaking in June when local police declared a riot, with smaller clashes occurring since then. Over the weekend, larger crowds gathered outside the facility, and federal agents fired tear gas.
An appeals court has scheduled arguments for Thursday in the government's bid to overcome a lower court's rulings and deploy the Guard in Portland.
Oregon Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek said she met Tuesday with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and told her there’s “no insurrection” in the state.
“Oregon is united against military policing in our communities,” Kotek said.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said Tuesday that the department needs to work more closely with federal agents as it looks put more officers at the ICE facility.
“We’ve been trying to coordinate that with the federal response because we have differing policies, differing expectations around procedures," he said.
Noem told Fox News on Tuesday that she told Portland Mayor Keith Wilson that if the city did not boost security at the ICE building, get backup from local law enforcement, and take other safety measures then “we were going to send four-times the amount of federal officers here."
A federal judge in September said the administration “willfully” broke federal law by putting Guard troops in Los Angeles over protests about immigration raids.
Fernando reported from Chicago. Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, center, stands on the roof of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Military personnel in uniform, with the Texas National Guard patch on, are seen at the U.S. Army Reserve Center, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, in Elwood, Ill., a suburb of Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Protesters confront federal law enforcement officers outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Police and Federal officers stand guard an area by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore. on Sunday, Oct. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A protester is doused with milk, water, and saline after tear gas in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Federal officers hold down a protester in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side. (Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Federal enforcement officers stand guard near a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland, Ore., Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
