HELENA — Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is leading a 22-state coalition urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard members to protect federal immigration agents from violent protesters in Chicago.
The amicus brief, filed Monday in Donald J. Trump, President of the United States v. State of Illinois and City of Chicago, asks the justices to reverse a lower court order that blocked Trump’s federalization of approximately 300 Guard members. The coalition argues that escalating violence against Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers has prevented federal agents from enforcing immigration law and poses risks that extend far beyond Illinois.
“The President’s decision to federalize the national guard to protect federal officers and property in Chicago has effects beyond the borders of Illinois; states and cities across the U.S. are benefited by this decision,” Knudsen wrote in the brief.
Violence at Chicago ICE facility
According to the brief, violence against ICE agents in Chicago has escalated since September when the agency began “Operation Midway Blitz,” an initiative targeting criminal illegal immigrants in the Chicago area. More than 100 protesters have surrounded the Broadview Processing Center, where they have assaulted law enforcement officers, thrown tear gas canisters, slashed tires, blocked building entrances and trespassed on private property.
Federal agents have arrested at least 13 people in connection with the protests.
The brief details an incident in which ICE agents operating approximately 15 miles from the Broadview facility were “attacked and rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.” When agents attempted to flee, a woman carrying a semi-automatic weapon “attempted to run the officers down,” according to the filing. Local police who initially prepared to assist ICE were ordered to “stand down by the chief of patrol.”^1
The coalition also referenced a September shooting at a Dallas ICE field office in which a gunman killed three people.^2 Shell casings at the scene contained anti-ICE messages, and the shooter’s handwritten notes indicated he “hoped his actions would give ICE agents real terror of being gunned down.”
Legal authority for deployment
The brief argues Trump acted within his authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3), which allows the president to federalize National Guard units “when the President is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
The states cite Newsom v. Trump, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision from earlier this year that upheld Trump’s similar National Guard deployment in Los Angeles using a “highly deferential” standard of review. That case found the president had “a colorable basis” for determining that violence against federal officers significantly impeded their ability to execute federal law.
The brief notes Trump deployed approximately 300 Guard members in Chicago compared to roughly 4,000 in California, demonstrating what the states characterize as a “measured response.”
Resistance from Illinois officials
Despite the ongoing violence, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has signed an executive order establishing “ICE-free zones” throughout the city to limit areas where federal authorities can operate. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has demanded federal officers “stay the hell out of Chicago” and called Trump’s National Guard deployment an “unconstitutional invasion.”
Illinois has enforced some of the nation’s strictest sanctuary laws, broadly prohibiting cooperation between local police and federal immigration agents. The state effectively banned immigration detention in 2021 when it ended local cooperation agreements between the federal government and county jails.
National implications
The brief argues that violence against ICE in Chicago affects all states, not just Illinois. States already bear “billions” in costs related to illegal immigration, including expenses for incarcerating criminal illegal immigrants, criminal recidivism, public education and healthcare.
The coalition warns that if violent protests succeed in Chicago, similar tactics will spread to other states. The brief notes that anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles earlier this year cost taxpayers an estimated $30 million.
“Given the prevalence of violence aimed at federal law enforcement, in Chicago and around the country, it is unsurprising that the President deployed National Guard resources to protect them from obstructions in their attempts to follow the law,” the brief states.
The filing describes coordinated attacks by groups the brief links to Antifa, which President Trump designated as a domestic terrorist organization in September. The designation cited the organization’s “calls for the overthrow of the United States Government, law enforcement authorities, and our system of law.”
Coalition members
The brief was led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Knudsen. Joining them were attorneys general from Oklahoma, South Carolina, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.
“The President’s action of federalizing the National Guard furthers the public interest because it allows ICE agents to continue to perform their statutory duties of identifying, apprehending, and removing illegal aliens, which is the only way to protect the States from the harms caused by illegal immigration,” the brief concludes.