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President Donald Trump has authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago to address what he calls out-of-control crime.
The move came hours after immigration authorities said they confronted protesters in the Democratic-run city and shot an armed woman when she and others crashed their cars into law enforcement vehicles.
State and local leaders have criticized Trump's troop deployment plans for weeks, calling it an abuse of power. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said Trump was "trying to create a crisis."
The announcement came as a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, another liberal city, temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying 200 troops there.
Judge Karin Immergut called Trump's statements about conditions in Portland "unrelated to the facts" and said the action violated the Constitution.
She said using the military to quell the riots without the consent of the state of Oregon jeopardized the sovereignty of that state and others, adding that it also caused tensions in the city and led to increased protests.
Immergut ruled that the administration's arguments for deploying troops "risk blurring the line between federal civilian and military power, to the detriment of this nation."
While it is unclear whether the troops have arrived in Chicago, any such deployment would likely face legal challenges.
It is not clear whether any troops have been mobilized yet following Trump's authorization.
The city is the latest, many of them led by Democrats, to be targeted by a controversial troop deployment, joining Washington, Los Angeles, Memphis and Portland.
The deployments have raised both legal and constitutional questions, as National Guard troops are typically deployed by a state's governor and centuries-old laws limit the government's use of the military for domestic matters.
Chicago has seen a surge in protests against immigration law enforcement in the city, many of which are taking place outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities.
"Amid the ongoing violent unrest and lawlessness that local leaders like Governor Pritzker have refused to intervene to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 National Guard troops to protect federal officers and assets," White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. "President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness that plagues American cities."
On Saturday, just before Trump authorized troops there, U.S. Border Patrol personnel shot a woman in Chicago after a group of people rammed their cars into immigration enforcement vehicles, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement. The woman was armed, the statement said.
The woman's injuries were unclear. DHS said she drove herself to a local hospital.
Earlier this week, the president spoke about his ongoing military deployments to US cities as he addressed senior leaders across the military.
He told military leaders that he wants American cities to be used as "training grounds" for American troops so they can fight the "enemy from within" and quell unrest.
"These are very unsafe places, and we're going to fix them one by one," he said of Democratic-led cities, including Chicago. He told military leaders that would be "an important role for some of the people in this room."
Trump has threatened to send troops to Chicago for nearly a month, citing crime and shootings in the city.
Violent crime in Chicago has dropped significantly over the past two years. Between January and June, the homicide rate fell by a third compared to the same period last year, according to the Criminal Justice Council.
But overall levels in Chicago remain significantly higher than the average for many US cities. There were at least 58 people shot, eight of whom died, over the Labor Day holiday weekend last month. / Adapted from BBC /
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