U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin on Thursday denounced President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy National Guard troops in Illinois, calling the action an “unprecedented, unnecessary and unlawful abuse of power.”
Addressing fellow members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Durbin said the troops' arrival in the Chicago area represents a disregard for the Constitution’s division of powers between state and federal governments, ignores the authority of Illinois leaders and escalates tensions unnecessarily.
He asked his Republican colleagues to imagine how they would react if a Democratic president sent troops into their states over their governors' objections.
"Chicago does not need to be ‘saved,’ as Kash Patel claimed in a tweet yesterday," Durbin said. "We need the federal government to stop engaging in political theater and baselessly, recklessly escalating the situation in Illinois.”
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He also criticized Attorney General Pam Bondi for failing to answer his question about the legal basis for the deployment during a committee hearing earlier in the week.
"I’ve been a member of the Judiciary Committee for more than 20 years," he said. "Never have I encountered a witness from any other administration, Democratic or Republican, respond to legitimate questions with these types of personal attacks."
Durbin’s comments came as Illinois officials asked a federal judge in Chicago to order the National Guard to stand down. In court Thursday, an attorney representing the state said the administration “plowed ahead anyway” with the troop movement despite the pending lawsuit by Illinois and Chicago.
The Trump administration defended the move, saying the Guard would protect federal property and personnel amid unrest at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in suburban Broadview.
