National Guard troops are set to hit the streets of Memphis on Friday-just a day after a federal judge in Illinois slammed the brakes on their deployment in the Chicago area for at least two weeks.
The back-and-forth over troop deployments has become a flashpoint in a growing political and legal fight over President Donald Trump’s push to send the National Guard into several U.S. cities. The administration insists it’s about curbing crime-even though the numbers don’t always back that up.
Under the Insurrection Act, a president can send active-duty troops into states that refuse to quell unrest or defy federal law. But on Thursday, a Chicago judge said there’s no solid evidence that any "danger of rebellion" is brewing in Illinois amid Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The ruling handed a clear win to the Democratic leaders running both the state and the city.
“The court confirmed what we all know: There is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.
In Tennessee, where Republican Gov. Bill Lee backs the move, National Guard troops are set to act as the city’s ‘“additional eyes and ears”-patrolling Memphis alongside local, state, and federal agencies, according to city officials.
The Illinois order is set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on October 23. U.S. District Judge April Perry has scheduled an October 22 hearing to decide whether to extend it for another two weeks.
In her ruling, she said the administration crossed the line—violating the 10th Amendment, which reserves certain powers for the states, and the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal protection.
It’s unclear what’s next for the 500 National Guard members from Texas and Illinois. Most have been stationed at a U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, southwest of Chicago. A handful were seen Thursday outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview-where protests and tense encounters with federal agents have flared in recent weeks.
Officials at U.S. Northern Command referred questions to the Defense Department, which pointed to its policy of not commenting on ongoing litigation. The troops, operating under Northern Command, had been activated for a 60-day deployment.
U.S. Justice Department lawyer Eric Hamilton said Thursday that the Guard’s mission is to protect federal property and law enforcement officers in the field-not to "solve all of Chicago’s crime."
City and state officials have called the deployments both unnecessary and illegal.
Also on Thursday, a federal appeals court heard arguments over whether Trump had the authority to take control of 200 Oregon National Guard troops. The president had planned to deploy them in Portland, where mostly small nightly protests have been taking place outside an ICE facility.
Last Sunday, a judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking the move. Just hours after the ruling, Trump mobilized California troops for Portland, following the judge’s earlier block on using Oregon’s National Guard.
Two dozen states led by Democratic governors or attorneys general filed a brief supporting California and Oregon’s legal challenge, while 20 others, led by Iowa, sided with the Trump administration.
Chicago’s federal court made several rulings this week concerning immigration enforcement. In one, a judge said immigration agents have repeatedly violated a 2022 consent decree that sets rules for so-called warrantless arrests. The decree requires ICE to provide documentation for every arrest made of people who are not the primary targets.
The president has previously deployed troops to Los Angeles and Washington.
In a California case, a judge ruled in September that the deployment was illegal. By then, only about 300 of the thousands of troops sent there remained, and the judge did not order their removal.
