Chicago has become the ultimate proving ground for President Trump's domestic military experiment, pitting armed federal forces against a Democratic-led city determined to resist them.
Why it matters: The arrival of the National Guard — coupled with Trump's calls to arrest Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — could open a volatile new chapter in American history.
- Trump officials say the deployment, which relies on 200 National Guard troops from Texas, is meant to protect federal agents conducting immigration operations. Illinois has sued, calling it an illegal occupation.
- The troops aren't supposed to engage in actual policing so as not to violate the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which generally forbids the military from civilian law enforcement activities.
Zoom in: Weeks of raids, protests and violent clashes tied to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "Operation Midway Blitz" have already put the city on edge.
- Homeland Security officials say they're targeting criminal unauthorized migrants, and that incendiary rhetoric by Democratic leaders has led to a surge in violence against ICE officers.
- Local leaders say federal agents are exacerbating the situation with their increasingly aggressive tactics, including the use of a Black Hawk helicopter to surround an apartment building.
A lawsuit by a coalition of journalists and protesters alleged a "pattern of extreme brutality" outside a local ICE facility, where a video went viral Wednesday of a pastor being shot in the head with a pepper ball.
- With National Guard troops now on the ground, the conflict has evolved beyond immigration enforcement into a test of presidential power and state sovereignty.
- "This has never happened before," Pritzker told MSNBC. "They're calling out troops onto the streets of a state that doesn't want them and they're not even telling us where they're gonna go, what they're gonna do."
The big picture: Chicago's blend of politics, demographics and history has set the stage for an explosive showdown.
- A liberal power center: Johnson, the city's Black progressive mayor, has vowed to resist Trump's "authoritarianism" and signed an executive order establishing "ICE-free zones" barring immigration agents from using city property. Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, has made opposing Trump and funding liberal causes central to his political brand. Chicago is also the hometown of former President Obama, Trump's first major political foil.
- A conservative fixation: For years, Republicans and right-wing media have sought to use Chicago as a poster child for urban violence and Democratic chaos. FBI Director Kash Patel alleged that Chicago has 110,000 gang members, which would amount to nearly 5% of the city's population.
- A constitutional stress test: The decision to send Texas National Guard troops into Illinois without the governor's approval sits in a legal gray zone — one that could determine how far presidents can go in deploying force at home.
The intrigue: A hearing is set for Thursday in Illinois' lawsuit to block Trump's National Guard deployment. A federal judge's earlier decision to halt a deployment in Portland, Ore., enraged the White House and MAGA activists.
- If the courts allow it: The ruling could create a blueprint for deploying the National Guard to Democrat-led cities without a governor's consent — a historic expansion of federal power over states' rights.
- If the courts block it: Trump could use the setback as justification to invoke the Insurrection Act, an unprecedented escalation that would empower troops to conduct law enforcement operations on U.S. soil, legally overriding the Posse Comitatus Act.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has advocated for that approach, a Trump adviser told Axios' Marc Caputo.
- Miller, who referred to the judge's ruling in Portland as a "legal insurrection," said on CNN that the president has "plenary authority" to federalize the National Guard when necessary for public safety.
- The Trump adviser told Axios that obstinance by Johnson and Pritzker could accelerate the president's march toward the Insurrection Act, which he's been fixated on since the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests.
What they're saying: "Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker and Johnson have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Axios.
- "President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities like these Democrat leaders want to do."
The bottom line: Trump's "war from within," as he previewed to more than 800 military commanders last week, is just getting started.
