By Jack Phillips
Contributing Writer
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said that the Texas National Guard troops deployed to Illinois weeks ago have been told to return to their home state this week.
During an event on Saturday, Abbott told reporters with local news outlets that “they’ve already been ordered to return before Thanksgiving,” referring to the National Guard troops who were deployed in October to Illinois. Thanksgiving is on Thursday, Nov. 27, meaning the troops would be back before that date.
Starting on Oct. 7, the Republican governor ordered hundreds of state National Guard troops to Illinois to protect federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents amid protests as the agents carry out immigration operations in the greater Chicago area.
U.S. Northern Command said at the time of deployment in October that 200 Texas National Guard troops would be carrying out duties in the Chicago area.
“Approximately 200 soldiers from various units of the Texas National Guard and approximately 300 soldiers from various units of the Illinois National Guard were activated into a Title 10 status and have arrived in the greater Chicago area,” Northern Command said in a statement in October. “The National Guardsmen were mobilized for an initial period of 60 days and will be under the command and control of the Commander of U.S. Northern Command.”
Title 10 status refers to state National Guard troops being called into federal service.
When the decision was announced, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker criticized Abbott’s move to send his troops and urged him to withdraw them. He was also critical of the Trump administration’s actions in Chicago.
“I call on Gov. Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for this decision and refuse to coordinate,” Pritzker said in the statement on Oct. 5. “There is no reason a president should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation.”
For more than two months, the Chicago area was the focus of an aggressive operation led by Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol commander who led a similar effort in Los Angeles and is set to do the same in Louisiana.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has touted more than 3,000 arrests in the city, while the Trump administration has gone on social media to post photos of violent criminals apprehended in immigration operations. The immigration enforcement operation has triggered a number of lawsuits against the federal government.
Last week, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocked a federal judge’s order that restricted the use of force by agents in Chicago.
Judges on the ruling appeals court panel said that the lower court ruling was “overbroad” and “too prescriptive.” But the 7th Circuit also cautioned against “overreading” its stay and said a quick appeal process could lead to a “more tailored and appropriate” order.
“The preliminary injunction entered by the district court is overbroad,” the appeal court’s panel said in its ruling on Wednesday. “In no uncertain terms, the district court’s order enjoins an expansive range of defendants, including the president of the United States, the entire Departments of Homeland Security and Justice, and anyone acting in concert with them.”
Also on Wednesday, officials in the Chicago suburb of Broadview declared a civil emergency after rioters caused injuries to local and state police, issued death threats, and made a bomb threat against a government building, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
