A federal appeals court rejected President Donald Trump‘s bid to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, issuing an order on Thursday that downplayed the Trump administration’s claims of unrest over federal immigration operations in the city.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit declined to lift a lower district court’s ruling blocking the deployment of troops to Chicago, but it did continue to allow the federalization of the Illinois National Guard after lifting that part of the injunction over the weekend.
The panel concluded that “the district court’s factual findings at this preliminary stage were not clearly erroneous” and that “the facts do not justify the President’s actions in Illinois” under federal law “even giving substantial deference to his assertions.”
The panel, made up of an appointee of Trump, along with former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Barack Obama, walked through the various claims of unrest in its lengthy order, suggesting the administration overestimated the size of unruly crowds outside immigration facilities. The panel also examined a claim from the Trump administration that a road was closed for five hours because “Illinois law enforcement was able to contain the scene.”
The appeals court’s order also pointed to the administration’s own press releases touting the success of the immigration operations in the Chicago area.
“Despite President Trump’s federalization of Guard troops as necessary to enforce federal immigration law, DHS and ICE have touted the success of Operation Midway Blitz. In an October 3 press release, DHS stated that ICE and CBP have effected more than 1,000 immigration arrests since the start of the Operation,” the panel said in the order.
“In a September 26 DHS press release, the Department declared that protests had not slowed ICE down, and, in fact, ICE has significantly increased its deportation and arrest numbers year over year,” the panel continued.
Thursday’s ruling comes a week after U.S. District Judge April Perry blocked the deployment of troops to Chicago during a hearing in federal court. The Trump administration could appeal the appeals court’s decision to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, something it has done with success in dozens of cases this year.
HOW FOUR COURTS RULED DIFFERENT WAYS ON TRUMP’S NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENTS
The appeals court ruling comes as the Trump administration is facing lawsuits over its National Guard deployments to Portland and Los Angeles, along with its Chicago deployment. The administration has deployed the troops to protect federal assets and officials, something it has strong legal standing to do, according to legal analysts.
In Los Angeles, a federal appeals court has allowed the Trump administration to use the National Guard to protect federal assets and officials, while in Portland, the administration is currently barred by a federal district court from deploying troops for a similar mission in Oregon.
