(ILLINOIS, UNITED STATES) Illinois has filed a federal lawsuit to stop the Trump administration’s deployment of federalized National Guard troops and aggressive immigration enforcement operations in Chicago, escalating a fast-moving legal and political clash over what Governor JB Pritzker is calling “Trump’s Invasion.” The complaint, lodged on October 6, 2025, seeks to halt the federalization and deployment of troops and challenges the use of military-style tactics for civil immigration enforcement, arguing the actions are “illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional.”
The suit follows a string of rapid federal moves. On October 4, 2025, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth federalized 300 Illinois National Guard members. The next day, on October 5, 2025, 400 Texas National Guard members were federalized. Troops arrived in Chicago on October 8, 2025, despite opposition from Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. Illinois officials say the deployment is not grounded in any rebellion or insurrection and accuse the administration of manufacturing crisis conditions to justify invoking the Insurrection Act. Pritzker, who has repeatedly referred to the operation as “Trump’s Invasion,” said,
“Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities.”
In a news conference announcing the legal challenge, attorneys for Illinois and Chicago argued that federalizing state troops under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 is unwarranted in the absence of an actual uprising or invasion.
“There is no insurrection in Illinois. There is no rebellion in Illinois. The federal government is able to enforce federal law in Illinois. The manufactured nature of the crisis is clear,”
they argued in the filing. The lawsuit also cites the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of military forces in domestic law enforcement, and says the federal orders violate the 10th Amendment by overriding state control without lawful cause. The state is seeking an injunction to block the deployment of National Guard troops from any state into Illinois while the case proceeds.
Pritzker said federal actions in Chicago have escalated beyond routine immigration enforcement and toward intimidation, citing a recent ICE raid in the South Shore neighborhood where “Black Hawk military helicopters and more than 100 agents in full tactical gear” descended on an apartment complex. He said federal authorities filmed the operation with high-definition cameras for social media, and that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem later posted the video online. In downtown Chicago, the complaint says dozens of masked, armed federal agents marched in visible formations, part of what Illinois officials describe as a show of force unrelated to any immediate threat.
The governor accused Washington of turning immigration operations into political theater linked to a broader campaign to portray urban centers as lawless.
“The Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,”
Pritzker said, describing what he called unlawful pressure to surrender state control of the Illinois National Guard. He warned that this approach, combined with stepped-up immigration raids, risked inflaming tensions that local authorities have been working to defuse, particularly since the launch of “Operation Midway Blitz” on September 8, 2025.
Illinois officials also pointed to incidents outside the Broadview ICE processing facility in suburban Chicago, where the complaint says federal agents used “unprecedented, brute force tactics for civil immigration enforcement,” including firing chemical munitions at groups that included media and legal observers. Local agencies — the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and Broadview Police Department — have been drawn into the response to large protests as federal personnel, under the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, expanded their footprint. The lawsuit names the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) among the federal entities involved in planning and supporting the deployment.
The Trump administration says the intensified federal presence is necessary to protect immigration officers and facilities after clashes with protesters. Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy, framed the underlying justification in broader terms, saying,
“Sanctuary cities shield criminal illegal aliens from removal… these cities are engaged in systemic criminal violations and that they are engaged in a scheme to nullify and obstruct the duly enacted laws of the United States of America.”
President Donald Trump has amplified that message on social media, turning his fire on Illinois officials as troops arrived. On Truth Social on October 8, he wrote, “Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” In a separate post, Trump added, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning.”
At the heart of the court fight is whether the administration can rely on 10 U.S.C. § 12406, a statute that allows federalization of the National Guard during an insurrection or invasion, to assert control over Illinois troops absent such conditions. State lawyers say no, pointing out that ordinary federal law enforcement operations, even amid large protests, do not meet that threshold and that the Posse Comitatus Act prohibits using the military to carry out domestic policing. The complaint casts the federal moves as an attempt to bypass both statutory limits and constitutional protections reserved to the states. The inclusion of troops from Texas, Illinois argues, underscores the political optics, not any genuine operational need within Illinois.
The courtroom timeline is moving quickly. A federal judge declined to immediately block the deployment but set a hearing for Thursday this week, urging federal officials to hold off on further actions until arguments could be heard. Illinois officials say they will press for an immediate cease-and-desist to prevent additional Guard units from entering the state and to bar the federal government from commanding Illinois National Guard personnel for domestic enforcement. The administration has not indicated it will pause, and state officials warn that each day of “Trump’s Invasion” makes confrontations more likely.
The complaint offers granular accounts of actions that Illinois says break with longstanding norms for civil immigration operations. It alleges that during the South Shore raid, tactical teams used armored vehicles to surround the area while helicopters hovered overhead, alarming residents who recorded the scene and posted videos online. The filing says federal agents carried military-style weapons, set up bright lights, and filmed the raid using high-definition cameras, and it notes that the footage was later circulated by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. These choices, Illinois argues, were designed to create images of disorder that could be used to justify extraordinary measures under the Insurrection Act.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul appeared with Pritzker to stress the stakes of the legal battle, warning that the administration’s approach represents a more systemic threat to democratic checks and balances. Pritzker said,
“I refuse to let Donald Trump, Kristi Noem and Gregory Bovino continue on this march toward autocracy. Their plan all along has been to cause chaos and then they can use that chaos to consolidate Donald Trump’s power.”
Illinois identifies Gregory Bovino, a senior immigration enforcement official, as part of a leadership group overseeing the expanded operations that have brought additional federal agents to city streets and facilities since early September.
As legal filings sharpen the constitutional dispute, conditions on the ground have become a test of how far federal forces can go without direct coordination from state leaders. The Broadview ICE processing facility, already a flashpoint for rallies and vigils, saw altercations between protesters and federal personnel after the start of “Operation Midway Blitz” on September 8, 2025. Illinois contends those clashes were then used to rationalize the federalization of the Guard, even though local law enforcement — including the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Illinois State Police, and Broadview Police Department — was already managing the situation without state troops.
Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson have both argued that the presence of federalized Guard units and heavily armed agents has escalated the possibility of violence rather than reduced it. They say the scene of masked federal agents parading through downtown Chicago, combined with sensational raids filmed for public release, has unsettled immigrant communities and residents who have no connection to the protests. The administration’s defenders, however, insist that sanctuary policies in Chicago and Cook County have undermined the enforcement of federal immigration laws and that a stronger posture, including sending National Guard units under federal control, is needed to shield officers and facilities from interference.
The political temperature rose further after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s orders on October 4, 2025, and October 5, 2025, which Illinois officials say came without meaningful consultation and over the governor’s objections. Their account describes a series of terse communications culminating in Pritzker’s assertion:
“The Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will.”
Within days, troops were on the ground in Chicago on October 8, 2025, a rapid timeline that Illinois argues underscores the predetermined nature of a campaign to militarize routine immigration enforcement.
The administration’s push has unfolded alongside President Donald Trump’s public attacks and provocative social media messages aimed at Chicago leaders. Trump’s post — “Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also!” — has hardened positions on both sides, with Illinois officials framing the federal response as political intervention rather than a neutral law enforcement strategy. Trump’s separate quip, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” was cited by Illinois as evidence that the crisis is being staged to deliver spectacle rather than public safety.
Central to Illinois’s case is the assertion that the federal government retains ample tools to enforce immigration law without commandeering the state’s military resources or deploying out-of-state Guard units. The state argues that federal agencies — the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), and Customs and Border Protection (Customs and Border Protection) — have long carried out operations in Illinois without resorting to the federalization of the Guard. It says using the military in this arena, even indirectly, risks violating the Posse Comitatus Act and invites confusion over rules of engagement in dense urban environments. While the administration has also drawn in FEMA and emphasized interagency coordination, Illinois maintains that these steps have little to do with routine civil immigration enforcement and much more to do with political optics in an election season, a narrative the state says is encapsulated by the label “Trump’s Invasion.”
The lawsuit asks the court to immediately bar the federal government from using 10 U.S.C. § 12406 as a catch-all to seize control of state Guard units for domestic policing in the absence of an actual insurrection or invasion, and to enjoin any further deployments into Illinois from other states. Illinois also argues that if allowed to stand, the federal orders would set a precedent for presidents to sidestep state authority whenever local policies differ from federal priorities, a scenario that state officials say would erode the balance of power and normalize military involvement in civilian affairs.
For now, the clock is ticking toward the Thursday hearing, with a federal judge urging restraint but declining to immediately freeze the deployments. Illinois officials say they are preparing additional affidavits from residents of the South Shore neighborhood and observers from outside the Broadview ICE facility to reinforce claims of excessive force and unnecessary militarization. The Trump administration has remained firm that its actions are lawful and necessary to support federal officers and secure federal facilities amid persistent protests. With troops already in Chicago and legal briefs piling up, the clash over “Trump’s Invasion,” the role of the National Guard, and whether conditions in Illinois justify steps associated with the Insurrection Act is set to unfold in court later this week, even as tensions continue to simmer on the streets.
This Article in a Nutshell
On October 6, 2025, Illinois sued the federal government to block the federalization and deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago, arguing the administration improperly used 10 U.S.C. § 12406 without an insurrection. The suit cites the Posse Comitatus Act and the 10th Amendment, says federal tactics—helicopters, armored vehicles, filmed raids—were meant to intimidate, and seeks an injunction to stop further Guard deployments while the court reviews a Thursday hearing.
