Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Gov. JB Pritzker
UPDATE - A federal district court judge in Chicago, who once served as the chief ethics advisor to former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, says she will at least partially block President Donald Trump from deploying National Guard soldiers to Chicago and its suburbs to support federal immigration enforcement operations.
Perry has not yet issued a written ruling, which she said will come on Friday, Oct. 10, according to published reports.
However, after a long and contentious hearing on Thursday, Oct. 9, Perry said from the bench that she was granting, at least in part, a request for a temporary restraining order that could prevent Trump from federalizing National Guard units and deploying them to support Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents operating in Illinois.
During her remarks from the bench before delivering her oral ruling, Perry appeared to largely echo the public statements and rhetoric of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who have blamed Trump and ICE for fomenting unrest by arresting and deporting illegal immigrants and have asserted deploying the Guard now would be an illegal and unconstitutional act in response to that unrest.
According to reports published by those in the courtroom, Perry directly refused to give deference to the White House in this situation because she questioned the credibility of the president and his Department of Homeland Security to accurately and truthfully describe the situation on the ground, as ICE agents are met with regular protests and hostility, which at times have turned violent.
Perry further agreed with Pritzker, Johnson and other critics of the Trump administration that National Guard units would only further inflame the situation.
Perry was appointed to the bench by former President Joe Biden. Prior to being named to the federal judiciary, Perry most notably served as a chief deputy state’s attorney and chief ethics advisor in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office under Foxx, a prosecutor surrounded by controversy over her constant clashes with police and her perceived leniency toward accused criminals and advocacy for criminal rights.
However, Perry resigned from that post in 2019, reportedly after Foxx refused her suggestion to recuse from the prosecution of actor Jussie Smollett and appoint a special prosecutor, leading to extensive controversy surrounding Foxx’s officer's decision to not prosecute Smollett for allegedly lying to police.
It is expected the Trump administration will swiftly appeal that ruling to the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, also in Chicago.
At the same time, in a separate case, U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis also ruled against the Trump White House in granting an order blocking ICE from using riot control weapons, such as chemical agents, including pepper balls, and other non-lethal ammunition against journalists, protesters and ministers at anti-ICE protests in suburban Broadview and elsewhere, if they “are not posing an immediate threat to the safety of a law enforcement officer or others.”
CHICAGO - The court fights that have characterized the dispute between Democrats in California and the Trump administration over the administration's immigration enforcement operations are now being joined by nearly identical filings in Illinois federal court, as Illinois Democrats and left-wing activists similarly seek to use the courts to blunt the ability of ICE agents to operate in Chicago and elsewhere in the state.
On Oct. 6, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed suit in Chicago federal court, seeking an emergency court order that would purportedly deny President Donald Trump the ability to "federalize" hundreds of National Guard soldiers in Illinois and dispatch hundreds more from Texas to Cook County to support agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Those agents are the target of constant hostile action from protesters, ongoing for weeks, including some allegedly violent attempts to target ICE officers or obstruct federal immigration enforcement operations.
On the same day, allied pro-immigrant activists have partnered with members of the press and trial lawyers who have made their name suing Chicago Police to also sue the Trump administration in federal court over alleged excessive force used by ICE and other federal agents to deal with constant protests and attempts at apparent obstruction outside of ICE's processing facility in suburban Broadview.
And those lawsuits come days after the village of Broadview took action in federal court, seeking an order forbidding ICE from setting up a perimeter fence to hold activists back from the processing facility and maintain agents' ability to move in and out of the facility, as needed.
All of the lawsuits, other than Broadview's, mirror similar legal actions mounted against the Trump administration in California, where the legal war has waged on for months amid continued admitted attempts by Democrats to either resist or end efforts by the administration to ramp up and carry out operations to detain and deport illegal immigrants in that state and beyond.
Most recently, California sued to block Trump from using National Guard units to protect ICE and other federal agents against constant harassment and, at times, violence targeted at them by Antifa and other left-wing activists opposed to immigration enforcement, generally, in Portland, Oregon.
Previously, California had secured wins against Trump's actions in federal court under a federal law which limits the ability of U.S. presidents to deploy the military against civilians in U.S. states.
In the Illinois lawsuits, Raoul and the activists and journalists assert ICE is to blame entirely for "provoking" otherwise peaceful activists to respond and become increasingly hostile to federal agents.
They assert the constant protests and attempts to block the streets around the Broadview facility do not in any way impede ICE from carrying out its lawful duties and immigration enforcement actions.
So, as in California, Illinois state officials - all Democrats who have pledged to resist immigration enforcement actions in the state - say Trump's move to activate Guard units in support of ICE are unconstitutional and illegal.
In comments made during interviews over the weekend, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker echoed the claims made in the state’s lawsuit, asserting ICE and federal agents were responsible for making a peaceful Chicago and its suburbs into a “war zone.” He has further indicated he may use state investigators and possibly state and local law enforcement to launch actions against ICE and federal agents over their alleged mistreatment of children swept up in ICE operations.
Trump administration officials have said the additional security measures are needed to deal with increasingly violent actions against federal agents over immigration enforcement. Over the weekend, two people were charged with assaulting ICE agents by ramming ICE vehicles while agents were conducting enforcement activities. A woman was shot by ICE officers during the incident.
Following that incident, ICE agents were surrounded by an angry crowd elsewhere, but were reportedly refused backup and crowd control support by Chicago Police, reportedly under orders from the Chicago Police Department’s Patrol Chief.
In the activists' and journalists' lawsuit, the plaintiffs claim ICE and federal agents in Broadview have taken overly aggressive action against protesters, including intentionally targeting peaceful protesters and journalists with non-lethal munitions, including pepper balls, paint balls and rubber bullets, and so-called flash grenades and tear gas.
They characterize the federal agents' actions as "a pattern of extreme brutality in a concerted and ongoing effort to silence the press and civilians" amid an effort of "violent and unlawful suppression of First Amendment activities" which are being undertaken by activists and protesters to oppose "lawlessness unleashed on the Chicagoland area."
The activists and journalists are asking for a court order prohibiting ICE and other federal agents from using anti-riot tactics and weapons against protesters in Broadview, unless officers can identify specific and credible threats to the safety of officers carrying out lawful duties.
Journalists are also asking for special protections for people who are clearly "identifiable" as journalists engaged in reporting on the scene, including a court order granting journalists freedom to remain on scene even after law enforcement officers have issued a dispersal order.
The activists and journalists are being represented in the action by a legal team from nonprofit organizations and others who have racked up numerous lawsuits through the years targeting police in Chicago and elsewhere for alleged excessive force and wrongful prosecution of people who were allegedly wrongly charged or convicted of crimes, including murder.
Attorneys in the new action include those from the firm of Loevy & Loevy, of Chicago; the First Defense Legal Aid organization, of Chicago, which states its mission is "to connect, educate, and defend over-policed community members;" the Protect Democracy Project, of Washington, D.C, which was founded by officials from the administration of former President Barack Obama in 2016 to resist "authoritarian" actions from the Trump administration; the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic at the Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law; the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago; and the Roger Baldwin Foundation of the ACLU, of Chicago.
Both Raoul and the activists and journalists are seeking temporary restraining orders in their respective cases.
A judge has not yet ruled on either request, and the Trump administration has not yet responded in court.
Editor’s note: This article has been revised from an initial version to correct an error and provide clarification related to reports surrounding an incident in which Chicago Police were ordered to not provide crowd control support for ICE agents facing a hostile crowd.
