Overview

• A new executive order directs the defense secretary to build specialized National Guard units and a nationwide quick-reaction capability for domestic public-order missions, though experts note similar Guard forces already exist and questions about authority persist.
• Trump alternated between waiting for a request and acting unilaterally to send troops to Chicago, while Pentagon contingency planning has been reported and no National Guard mobilization has been ordered there.
• Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson rejected any deployment as illegal and unnecessary and said they would sue, pointing to city data showing sharp 2025 declines in homicides, shootings and overall violent crime.
• The federal surge in Washington, D.C., remains in place, with some Guard troops permitted to carry firearms, as Trump touts crime reductions that local statistics show were trending down before the deployment.
• Legal constraints loom large, including the Posse Comitatus Act and the rare Insurrection Act exception, with D.C.’s unique governance giving the White House options not available in states and prior deployments, such as in Los Angeles, already facing litigation.