of the now-go-home dept
Hello from the free state of Illinois! We were just talking about Donald Trump’s raid on the Chicago area, in which he first sent a bunch of masked ICE agents to terrorize citizens and immigrants alike, and at one point raided an apartment building with agents repelling from Blackhawk helicopters, as if the reincarnated form of Osama Bin Laden were hiding in there. When a few hundred protesters showed up outside a large ICE facility in nearby Broadview, the FBI first fired gas and pepper bullets at them for the crime of protesting, and eventually shot a protester seven times for “ramming” an ICE vehicle as part of a “convoy.” Interestingly, the convoy appears to have consisted of a few vehicles and lawyers for the protest claim. Bodycam footage, which has not yet been released, shows that it was the ICE vehicle that did the ramming, and that an officer jumped at the protester and shouted, “Do something, bitch!” before shooting her seven times.
Cool.
Well, the threat to ICE from the people they were merely shooting at was enough for Trump to want to deploy National Guard members from both Illinois and, bizarrely, Texas to the Chicago area to “protect” ICE agents. And for the arrest of Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor JB Pritzker. Full of authoritarianism. Those local officials refused to back down and actually filed a lawsuit to get the military off the streets of Chicago. In the meantime, Pete Hegseth, probably suffering from a splitting headache and a severe bout of dehydration, had already sent the troops in.
Now two separate judges at the court have done so issued two separate orders on the federal government and both are clearly in the loser category for Trump.
Let’s start with the National Guard TRO deployed to the Chicago area.
A judge has temporarily banned the Trump administration from federalizing or deploying the National Guard in Illinois afterward Donald Trump ordered hundreds of troops to Chicago to help with immigration enforcement and to combat what the White House says are the city’s high crime rates.
U.S. District Judge April Perry issued her ruling from the bench after more than two hours of oral argument from attorneys for the federal government and the state of Illinois, which prosecuted the case. Trump administration about the stakes. The decision came into effect on Thursday and will remain in effect for two weeks.
According to reporters in the courtroom, Perry said she had seen “no credible evidence that there was a danger of an insurrection in the state of Illinois.” On Thursday evening, around the time of Perry’s sentencing, about a half-dozen security guards were milling about inside the gates of the Ice Center in Broadview. A group of about ten protesters stood outside.
Now we all know how little respect this government has for court orders. I expect them to play semantic and technical games to keep the troops in place. Who else is going to shuffle around doing nothing but our soldiers? But that will create a new constitutional crisis. I expect it, and to be honest, I do wants it to happen. I keep saying this, but this will come to a head sooner or later and we might as well get started. The sooner Trump exceeds his authority and turns a blind eye to the rule of law, the sooner someone will have to do something about it. And if that means Republicans finally wake up and get him to back down, fine. If it means impeachment, so much the better. But since none of these things are likely to happen, I expect civil activity to emerge in major cities across the country instead. Let’s go.
Government attorneys tried to pretend to Judge Perry that reality wasn’t reality, but she just didn’t believe it.
Eric Hamilton, a Justice Department attorney, said the Chicago area is full of “tragic lawlessness.”
“Chicago is seeing a brazen new form of hostility from rioters targeting federal law enforcement,” Hamilton said. “They are not protesters. There is enough that there is a danger of an uprising here, and there is.”
In issuing her order, Perry attacked the Department of Homeland Security for providing a version of events on the ground that was “simply unreliable.”
Folks, I can’t stress this enough: the federal government is full of bullshit. I grew up two towns away from Broadview, the site of “the uprising.” I live 20 minutes away from the ICE facility in question. I almost drove past it on my way to work this morning. If there is rebellion in the works, it is remarkably silent and invisible. When this judge says, “Hey, you’re full of shit!” As politely as possible to a government lawyer, I can promise you that she is right.
The Trump administration will of course appeal, but I bet they will lose there too. And then this will happen before SCOTUS and God knows what those fools will decide. But make no mistake: the government’s lawyers Are lie. Outright lying. I live here. I know it is. And this will further encourage legal action from other states, who could see where this all ends if left unchallenged.
Two dozen other states with Democratic attorneys general or governors have signed on to an appeals court petition in support of California’s legal challenge — as well as one in Portland, Oregon, where a similar troop deployment is also being challenged.
Collective action is urgently needed, so more of this please.
But the courts weren’t done yet. A separate district court judge issued an injunction to prevent ICE and other federal agents from using riot control tactics at small, peaceful protests. And to stop their boot thug routine.
In a separate ruling on Thursday, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued a preliminary injunction limiting officers’ use of force, including pepper balls, rubber bullets and physical force such as pulling, pushing or approach against demonstrators and journalists who do not pose a serious threat to law enforcement.
Ellis’ order covers all of Northern Illinois and also requires federal agents to wear “visible identification” such as badges, the subject of heated debate as viral images have emerged of masked plainclothes officers conducting immigration enforcement in several U.S. cities.
Do you, boys and girls, want to hunt people and violate the rights of citizens and the rights of all kinds of people? Show your faces. Show your name and your badges. Be responsible. Don’t hide behind balaclavas or masks and unmarked cars that are indistinguishable from impersonators. You either do this openly, or you don’t do it at all. That’s as American as baseball and apple pie.
This isn’t the end of this. It may not even be the beginning of the end. I fully expect the federal government to violate these orders almost immediately. I also note a complete lack of outrage among elected Republicans over Trump’s violation of the law, as well as his call to jail elected officials for the crime of disobeying his orders. Cowards, all of you.
But again, this will come to a turning point at some point. It might as well be now. After all, I love the smell of court orders in the morning.
Filed Under: april perry, brandon johnson, broadview, chicago, donald trump, eric hamilton, ice, illinois, jb pritzker, national guard, sara ellis, violence
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