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Two members of the Illinois National Guard say they will refuse orders to carry out the Trump administration’s long-stated goal of sending federal troops into Chicago.
“It’s disheartening to be forced to go against your community members and your neighbors,” Staff Sergeant Demi Palecek, a state legislative candidate, told CBS News. “It feels illegal. This is not what we signed up to do.”
Captain Dylan Blaha, a congressional candidate in the state, had similar reservations, accusing the Trump administration of “actively dismantling our rights — free speech, due process, freedom of the press.”
“Look at 1930s, 1940s Germany,” Blaha added in an interview with the broadcaster. “There is a point where if you didn’t stand up to the [Nazi secret police] Gestapo, are you just actively one of them now?”
The Guard members could face a court martial, imprisonment, or a discharge if they refuse a lawful order.
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Members of the Illinois National Guard say they would refuse orders to deploy in Chicago, criticizing the Trump administration aim of launching a military crackdown in the city as unlawful and authoritarian (REUTERS)
The Independent has contacted the White House, Illinois National Guard and Pentagon for comment.
The Trump administration is attempting to send roughly 500 federalized National Guard troops from Illinois and Texas into the city, the latest in a string of attempts to use the military in largely Democrat-run cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, to crack down on crime and protests against immigration raids.
City and state leaders in Illinois have vocally opposed the latest attempted deployment, which Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has called a form of authoritarianism.
Troops began massing outside of Chicago earlier this month, though they haven’t deployed to the city yet, amid an ongoing lawsuit from Illinois leaders challenging the operation.
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The Illinois National Guard has been blocked in court from being sent to Chicago, but federal immigration agents have been operating in the city in a surge operation since last month (Chicago Sun-Times)
A federal court temporarily blocked the deployment, finding it likely violates the 10th and 14th Amendments as well as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which prohibits the military from enforcing domestic law.
An appeals court upheld the pause, and the Trump administration has sought emergency relief before the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the operation to move forward.
An expanded contingent of federal immigration agents have separately been on the ground in Chicago since last month as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”
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Border Patrol agents in Chicago have been accused of using abusive tactics and were ordered by a federal court to stop firing riot control weapons at protesters (Chicago Sun-Times)
As part of the mission, masked federal agents have carried out military-style raids across the city and have been accused of abuses.
A federal judge this month ordered the agents to wear body cameras and to stop firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and chemical munitions at protesters and journalists.
Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, a top official leading the operation, is accused of violating these orders, after he was filmed throwing what appeared to be a tear gas canister at protesters.
DHS claims violent protesters struck him in the head with a rock.
Bovino has been ordered to appear in court later this week.
