The military personnel were seen by reporters at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Elwood, Ill., approximately 55 miles southwest of Chicago. The troops were dressed in uniforms with patches identifying them as members of the Texas National Guard, according to several outlets.
On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) posted a picture to X showing National Guard troops from his state boarding a plane. "Deploying now," he wrote, but he did not indicate where they were going.
The forces mark the fifth time the administration has sent troops to an American city in the past year or attempted to, despite legal challenges and opposition from Democrats.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) on Tuesday called the expected National Guard deployment in his city "illegal, unconstitutional," and "dangerous."
In a press conference, the Democratic mayor told reporters that the Trump administration has not shared with his team any details about Trump's plans to send in the National Guard to Chicago.
"As far as what we are hearing, the National Guard — first of all, it's illegal, unconstitutional, it's dangerous, it's wrong. This is not about deportation. This is not about safety for this president," Johnson said at the press conference.
"This is about authoritarianism. It's about stoking fear. It's about breaking the Constitution that would give him that much more control over our American cities," Johnson continued.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) has said that about 300 members of the Illinois National Guard were expected to be federalized and deployed to Chicago, along with 400 troops from Texas.
Illinois and Chicago sued on Monday to block the Trump administration's deployment of the National Guard to Chicago, calling the move "unlawful and dangerous."
But the White House has defended the crackdown as an effort to control "lawlessness." In addition to plans for a Chicago deployment, the administration has also sent the National Guard to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and St Louis, and attempted to deploy them to Portland but was blocked by a judge over the weekend.
Read the full report at thehill.com.
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