On October 6, 2025, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed suit to prevent Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth from federalizing Illinois National Guard troops and deploying federalized Texas National Guard troops in Chicago, upending Constitutional principles embodied in the Tenth Amendment. Chicago has long been the subject of Trump’s ire, with numerous administration officials spending the past months threatening a military occupation. 

Trump has repeatedly spoken of his plans to deploy the U.S. military against U.S. citizens, telling top military leadership on September 30, 2025, that they must be prepared to defend the homeland against “invasion from within” in cities led by “radical-left Democrats.” These statements belie the true reason for military occupation of American cities—punishing states and cities that do not support the President and his policies—rather than the pretextual assertions that the military is necessary to protect an immigration processing facility in a Chicago suburb. Indeed, federal agents have recently incited protest using brutal tactics against protestors as well as immigrants and U.S. citizens. This escalation has inflamed tensions, which the Trump administration claims justify occupying Chicago and surrounding communities with federalized military forces. But federal law only allows the President to federalize state National Guard troops under very narrow circumstances, which are not currently present in Illinois.  

The suit asks the court to rule the federal government’s actions unlawful and unconstitutional, prevent federalizing Illinois National Guard troops, and prohibit the federal government from deploying any military troops over the objection of the Governor of Illinois. 

On October 9, 2025, a federal judge blocked the federal government from federalizing Illinois National Guard troops, or from deploying any state’s National Guard inside Illinois. On October 11, 2025, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s prohibition on deployment, while allowing the Trump administration to federalize Illinois National Guard troops.   

The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly for the reason that their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor. I am absolutely committed to upholding the Constitution and defending the rule of law, which is why my office is both challenging and seeking an order to stop unlawful National Guard deployment in Illinois. Attorney General Kwame Raoul