Durbin On Deployment Of National Guard Troops To Chicago: The Trump Admin’s Unlawful Use Of The Military To Police American Cities Makes Our Country Less Safe
Durbin condemned the Trump Administration’s decision to send Texas and Illinois National Guard troops to the Chicago area
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today spoke on the Senate floor to denounce the Trump Administration’s deployment of Texas and Illinois National Guard troops to Illinois. In his remarks, Durbin emphasized the illegality of President Trump’s deployment of troops to American cities and underscored that these actions are motivated by the President’s desire to play a strongman on television rather than to help Illinoisans.
“President Trump has shown us his unlawful and inhumane priorities over and over again, city after city. He continues to deploy militarized immigration agents and National Guard troops to more American cities purely for political theater. He wants America to talk about the Texas National Guard in Illinois, not about health care costs facing American families. But it’s not going to work,” Durbin said. “Unfortunately, the men and women of the Texas National Guard, who are in the state of Illinois as of yesterday, have been sent off on a political assignment.”
“Instead of working to find a bipartisan way to reopen the government and lower the cost of health care, President Trump is solely focused on scoring points against his perceived enemies,” Durbin said.
Yesterday, roughly 200 members of the Texas National guard arrived in Illinois and are expected to deploy in the Chicago area. FBI Director Kash Patel also came to Chicago yesterday, staying for three hours—just enough time for him to tour one facility and sit down for an interview with Fox News. As Durbin explained in his remarks, the deployment of these troops and the press tour conducted by the Trump Administration, complete with graphic, promotional videos of reckless arrests and sit-down interviews with conservative media, does not support Illinoisans. Instead, it has heightened tensions in Chicago as federal agents conduct ruthless immigration raids, further stoking chaos and fear in Illinois communities.
“The truth is that the arrival of the Texas National Guard and FBI Director Patel will not make Chicago safer. It will only escalate the unnecessary and dangerous situation that this President himself has created. I still can’t get the image out of my mind from two weeks ago when the ICE officials in full combat gear, carrying long rifles, were marching down Michigan Avenue. It was a hateful effort that was used to provoke people,” Durbin said. “This Administration’s unlawful use of military resources to police American cities makes our country less safe, and it is a mistake that will be remembered in the history books.”
“I pray that the court system will respond accordingly, as they did in the case of Oregon, in Illinois, when the hearing tomorrow is brought before the federal judge. Deploying the Texas National Guard without the consent of Illinois elected officials is, in my estimation, unnecessary and unlawful,” Durbin said.
Durbin stressed the illegality of the President’s actions, pointing to the Posse Comitatus Act. Durbin also acknowledged that the National Guard troops had joined to serve their country, not to be used as political pawns.
“The Posse Comitatus Act expressly forbids the use of our nation’s military for civilian law enforcement unless expressly authorized by statute or the Constitution. National Guard personnel do not deserve to be used as the President’s political pawns,” Durbin said.
“As much as I regret the decision about the Texas governor to send his National Guard troops into Illinois, and as much as I want them to leave immediately, I do not make those statements at the expense of the individuals who are in the Guard and volunteered to serve their state and nation. Same thing is true with the federalized Illinois National Guard. They’re doing what they’re ordered to do according to the military standards,” Durbin said.
“If the Trump Administration truly wants to help Chicago—and I don’t believe they do— it wouldn’t defy our elected leaders. They would work with us. They would restore the millions of dollars it suspended in crime prevention and public safety grants. Instead, this Administration has chosen to use America’s military to create chaos and sow fear in our cities,” Durbin said.
Durbin explained that, while Trump Administration officials have inflated statistics about crime in cities, the same officials have slashed funding for critical crime prevention programs and efforts. Federal immigration agents have taken the President’s mass deportation scheme to the extreme, conducting nighttime raids in which people are ripped from their beds and detained with zip-ties for hours.
“We all agree on the importance of reducing crime and making our communities safer. The President claims his aggressive immigration raids and threats to deploy troops are to help get violent criminals off our streets,” Durbin said.
“I’ve come to the floor two straight days, and this is the third, to condemn what happened last week in the city of Chicago on Tuesday. A South Shore apartment building was raided in the middle of the night. Doors were crashed down. Families were rousted out of their bedrooms, many of them brought out to the street and questioned as to whether they were in America legally. Some were American citizens,” Durbin said. “What happened on that street, on that night, was not the way America does business, and it shouldn’t be. [They] terrorize[d] these families with no warrant for their arrest and no suspicion that they’d committed crimes, simply because they looked Hispanic, this action was taken against them. These attacks are part of Stephen Miller’s personal agenda for mass deportation at any cost.”
“They have pulled FBI, DEA, and ATF agents from their important assignments to carry out the President’s immigration agenda. They’ve stopped working on combatting crimes like terrorism, gun violence, human trafficking, and drug smuggling to land helicopter near a building in Chicago and to bring 30 families out into the street in the middle of the night,” Durbin continued.
“I have long fought for humane reforms to our immigration system and evidence-based ways to reduce crime in our cities. If the President is serious about fixing our immigration system or lowering crime in our communities, I’m join in on that effort. But sending in militarized federal immigration agents and National Guard troops to our communities is not the way to do it,” Durbin said. “These actions have accomplished what I believe is the President’s true intention here: sowing fear into the hearts of our communities—especially our immigrant communities—and consolidating the President’s power.”
Durbin concluded his speech by reiterating that he will push for the Trump Administration to immediately withdraw troops from Illinois.
“The actions taken by this Administration undermine the very fabric of America—a nation that was founded on a belief that all people should be free from tyranny. I remember a time when every member of Congress would have risen in outrage if an Administration attempted to use the military unlawfully against the cities and communities and states they represent. Unfortunately, that time has passed. There is nothing by silence from the other side of the aisle,” Durbin said. “Instead, congressional Republicans are content to stand aside in abject servility to this President as he tramples the Constitution.”
“But Americans will not stay silent. People across Illinois are peacefully making their voices heard and letting this Administration know that their attacks on our city will not go unchallenged. As Senator from the great state of Illinois, I will do everything in my power to hold this Administration accountable for its unlawful actions,” Durbin said.
Earlier this week, Durbin led all members of the Illinois Democratic delegation in sending a letter to President Trump, demanding that he immediately reverse his decisions to federalize and deploy 300 Illinois National Guard troops and up to 400 Texas National Guard troops to the Chicago region.
As ICE has increased its presence in the Chicago area, conducting reckless immigration raids and aggressively engaging with peaceful protesters at Broadview ICE facility, Durbin has continued to push for oversight on the facility’s conditions and the brutal tactics used by federal agents during raids. In September, after Illinois delegation members were barred from entering Broadview, Durbin joined U.S. Representative Delia Ramirez (D-IL-03) to urge ICE Field Office Director Russell Holt to promptly schedule a meeting with congressional members. ICE officials have yet to respond.
Video of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s remarks on the Senate floor is available here for TV Stations.
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