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Oct. 8, 2025, 2:06 PM EDTBy Daniella SilvaSome 500 National Guard members have arrived in the Chicago area and are mobilized for an initial period of 60 days, despite an ongoing lawsuit challenging their deployment there, according to a statement Wednesday morning from U.S. Northern Command, a part of the Defense Department.About 200 members from multiple units in the Texas National Guard and some 300 members from multiple units in the Illinois National Guard have been activated and sent to Chicagoland, the statement said. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has denounced the deployment as an unconstitutional invasion. The troops are stationed at the Army Reserve center in Elwood, outside of Joliet, Illinois, about an hour southwest of Chicago. “These forces will protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other U.S. Government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property,” U.S. Northern Command said in its statement. On Monday, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago sued to block the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago.In a statement Sunday, ahead of the National Guard’s arrival, Pritzker said, “We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion.”“It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” he said in the statement.“The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props,” he said. “This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness.”President Donald Trump said in a post to Truth Social on Wednesday that Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “should be in jail” in an escalation of his conflict with the two Democratic officials.“Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers!” he said in the post. “Governor Pritzker also!”Trump has threatened for weeks to send troops to Chicago as part of a crime-fighting and immigration effort, and Democrats have pushed back and said any deployment would be politically motivated against his perceived enemies and an overreach of authority. NBC News has reached out to the White House for further comment.Pritzker responded to the president in a post to X, saying, “I will not back down.”“Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power,” he said. “What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?”Reached for comment, Johnson said that “this is not the first time Trump has tried to have a Black man unjustly arrested.”“I’m not going anywhere,” he added.The Trump administration is also seeking to send the National Guard to Portland, Oregon, but a judge granted a temporary restraining order this week to block the move as the case is considered in court. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the troops would have worked to support ICE and other federal personnel, as well as protect federal property.On Tuesday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek directed U.S. Northern Command to demobilize Oregon’s 200 National Guard troops and return another 200 California National Guard members to their state.Referencing the judge’s decision temporarily blocking Trump from sending the National Guard into Portland, Kotek said in a statement, “Judge Karin J. Immergut’s orders are a clear and forceful rebuttal to President Trump’s misuse of states’ National Guard.”“Thus, I am directing Northern Command to send Oregon’s citizen-soldiers home from Camp Rilea immediately,” Kotek said. “Let’s remember that these Oregonians are our neighbors and friends, who have been unlawfully uprooted from their family and careers — they deserve better than this.”It was unclear if Kotek’s letter to U.S. Northern Command would have any effect. The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment from NBC News regarding legal standing for directing U.S. Northern Command to send troops home. NBC News also reached out to U.S. Northern Command for comment.Daniella SilvaDaniella Silva is a national reporter for NBC News, focusing on immigration and education.

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The troops, composed of units from Texas and Illinois, are based at an Army Reserve station about an hour southwest of Chicago.

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