WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Friday asked the Supreme Court to immediately authorize the deployment of National Guard troops to Illinois, claiming they are needed to protect federal agents who enforce immigration laws.
The move comes in response to lower court rulings that blocked the effort, with the Chicago-based U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday again ruling against the administration.
The Attorney General, Dr. John Sawyer, who represents the government, said in the new filing that federal agents were repeatedly “threatened and assaulted” in Chicago and the suburb of Broadview, where an immigration facility is located.
Echoing President Donald Trump’s stark and harsh language about the situation on the ground, which local leaders strongly oppose, Sawyer said federal agencies have been “forced to operate under the constant threat of mob violence.”
Trump summoned the National Guard under a federal law that gives the president the authority to act when he encounters difficulty enforcing the law, and also when there is “rebellion or danger of rebellion.”
“Both conditions are met here,” Sawyer said.
Lower courts disagreed.
U.S. District Judge April Perry He questioned the government’s version of eventssaying that it had “found no credible evidence of a threat of rebellion in the State of Illinois.”
In the same way, The Court of Appeal said “The facts do not justify the president’s actions in Illinois.”
Trump has often turned to the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, when lower courts have thwarted his aggressive use of executive power. In most cases, the Supreme Court ruled in his favor.