The Trump administration really, really, really wants to send out-of-state National Guard members to Chicago, so they decided to actually comply with a court order to explain what they plan to do with those troops. And while the explanation is brief, it did manage to go long on being terrible.
Niave Knell, the Deputy Commanding General for the U.S. Army North Command, hopefully did not start his career believing that his job was to oversee the invasion of a blue state by red state troops, but that’s where he is now. His declaration to the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Illinois justifying that proposed incursion highlights how disingenuous and cynical this entire situation is.
The court ordered the administration to say where it needed troops, for what purpose, and what support requests the Army had received from the Department of Homeland Security. Of course the “where” is amorphous. Though the order required the government to say which municipalities in Illinois troops would be sent to, all Knell could muster was “primarily in Cook County,” but oh, also, that “could change as situations develop on the ground.”
Oh, so maybe like in California, where the troops were eventually sent to do drug raids over 100 miles away from Los Angeles? Or maybe like in Washington, D.C., where troops picked up trash and pruned some trees? Gotta beautify Chicago just like your nation’s capital, right?
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The declaration also explained exactly which out-of-state troops it will be trying to occupy Chicago with, and it likely reveals more than the administration intended. Knell says that the federalized California Guard members—who have already been trained and deployed to protect federal immigration facilities and personnel—number a mere 14, and their only job is to train other troops. The Texas National Guard, on the other hand, is supplying 200 guard members for “federal protection operations.”
It’s deeply odd not to make the already-experienced California guard members the bigger presence here, particularly as the administration was so hyped to send California troops to Oregon before that got blocked. Instead, the largest contingent will be Texas Guard members with no prior experience. Surely it's just a coincidence that those guard members just happen to be from the state where the governor is absolutely chomping at the bit to invade another state.
The declaration also had to detail which support requests the military had already received from DHS. Inevitably, Homeland Security officials have requested the military at the Broadview ICE facility, but they also asked for “support protection of the Federal District Court on Friday, October 10, 2025, due to two high-profile cases involving DHS activities and personnel in the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area.”
The request that active-duty troops show up at a federal courthouse to “protect” DHS personnel is such a transparent bid to intimidate people who will be present, especially anyone there to support the defendants in the two cases that this refers to.
Marimar Martinez is being charged with felony assault of a federal officer after ICE alleged she chased them in her car, brandished a weapon, and boxed them in. Her attorney says body camera video from a Border Patrol agent instead shows the officer saying, “Do something, bitch,” then pulling over and shooting her five times.
The other case concerns the incredibly conveniently timed, appropriately detailed, easily discovered plan by a Chicago gang member to put out a hit on Gregory Bovino, who is heading Border Patrol operations in Chicago.
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While DHS may want the troops there, the federal court wants no such thing, necessitating the chief federal judge explaining that no, they have made no requests because of how they already have a whole security force composed of U.S. Marshals, which has jurisdiction over courthouses.
Getting armed active-duty troops into a regular court would be quite the success story for an administration bent on making routine the once-unthinkable sight of military personnel in civilian courtrooms. Surely no one will be worried about having to stroll through a phalanx of troops for routine court business, right? And surely this wouldn’t have the effect of shutting up anyone who might want to testify on behalf of the churn of people ICE keeps arresting and brutalizing, right?
The administration thinks one group, and one group only, is worthy of protection: the violent agents and officials who absolutely live for terrorizing immigrants specifically and urban dwellers generally. The military shouldn’t be helping with that prospect, and Niave Knell absolutely knows it.
