Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Allow Deployment of National Guard in Chicago

SadaNews - The administration of President Donald Trump requested the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday-Saturday to authorize the deployment of the National Guard in Chicago.

Trump announced at the beginning of October the dispatch of hundreds of National Guard members to the third largest city in the U.S., stating that their presence is necessary to combat crime and protect federal immigration and customs enforcement personnel there.

However, a federal judge suspended the deployment of the troops, saying there is "no reliable evidence of a rebellion risk in Illinois," which counts Chicago as its largest city.

A federal appeals court upheld on Thursday the suspension of Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard members in Chicago and its surroundings, stating that the Trump administration failed to prove that the current conditions in Chicago justify the deployment of these soldiers.

In the report submitted to the Supreme Court, John Sauer, the government's legal advisor, said that federal agents in Chicago are "forced to operate under a continuous threat of mob violence."

He added that the court’s order to prevent the deployment of the National Guard "oversteps the president's authority and puts individuals and federal property at unnecessary risk."

For weeks, the Republican president has been targeting the city of Chicago, announcing that he wants to deploy the National Guard there as he did in Los Angeles, Washington, and Memphis.

Courts had temporarily halted a similar deployment in Portland, another city controlled by Democrats.