The Texas National Guard deployed 200 troops to Illinois to protect federal property and personnel from anti-immigration protesters, with troops arriving in the state on Tuesday, according to the Pentagon.
The mobilization will be for an initial 60-day period, with any further deployment to be decided later.
The troops are there "in support of the Federal Protection Mission to protect federal functions, personnel, and property," the Pentagon statement read.
Some of the troops arrested about a dozen protesters near an ICE facility in Broadview, where they have gathered for several days.
News footage on Tuesday afternoon also showed several troops outside the Army Reserve Training Center in Elwood, just south of Joliet.
Troops are "on the ground and ready to go," Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) said on X. "They are putting America first by ensuring that the federal government can safely enforce federal law."
Officials in the state continue to be opposed to the deployment of any National Guard troops in the state, even after a DHS vehicle was hemmed in by about 10 cars and rammed by one or more of them on Saturday.
"The Trump administration must end the war on Chicago," the city's Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) said during a news conference Monday, calling the deployment "illegal, unconstitutional, dangerous and wrong." "The Trump administration must end this war against Americans. The Trump administration must end its attempt to dismantle our democracy."
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) filed a lawsuit to keep the Guard troops out of the state, but it hasn't yet been heard.
Johnson signed an executive order on Monday that created "ICE-free zones" in the city and said that ICE personnel cannot use city-owned property for its operations to enforce immigration laws.
How crazy is American politics when cities make laws that try to prevent others from making sure laws are followed?
That should not be happening, but it's the status quo in numerous sanctuary cities all over the nation.
As long as they can characterize Trump as a dictator and a "bully," these groups feel justified to protest and try to bully everyone else into not following the law along with them.
Meanwhile, people are getting hurt by the violence and illegal immigrants continue to commit crimes, take American jobs, and create a drain on services.
