The Trump administration on Friday asked the US supreme court to permit the deployment of national guard troops to Illinois, as the president pushes to expand the domestic use of the military in a growing number of Democratic-led cities.
It was followed by concerns people who took part in Saturday’s mass “No Kings” protest against US president Donald Trump’s administration may be targeted for federal government surveillance. This could involve a range of technology including facial recognition and phone hacking, civil libertarians said.
In an emergency filing to the supreme court, the justice department urged the court to overturn a lower-court ruling that halted the deployment of several hundred national guard troops to the Chicago area. The district judge had raised doubts about the administration’s justification for sending troops, questioning its explanation in light of local conditions.
A federal appeals court upheld the lower court’s decision on Thursday, keeping the deployment on hold while the legal challenge proceeds.
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Late on Friday evening, US district judge Sara Ellis ordered federal officers to use body cameras. Ellis said those officers trained and equipped with body-worn cameras must turn them on while conducting immigration enforcement activity, including during interactions with the public.
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The new measure follows her earlier temporary restraining order requiring federal immigration officers to give warnings before using anti-riot weapons like tear gas and to wear visible identification.
Ms Ellis also said she wants representatives from federal immigration agencies to appear at a hearing on Monday to answer her questions about how her order – in effect until November 6th – is being implemented.
D John Sauer, the solicitor general representing the administration, wrote in the new filing that federal agents have repeatedly been “threatened and assaulted” in Chicago and the suburb of Broadview, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) detention facility is located.
Mr Trump has already sent national guard units to Chicago and Portland, following earlier deployments to Los Angeles, Memphis, and Washington DC. The US president has argued that military intervention is needed to curb unrest and bolster immigration enforcement.
Mr Trump and his supporters have portrayed these cities as dangerous and overwhelmed by violent demonstrations, framing the military’s role as essential to restoring order.
Democratic officials have pushed back sharply, saying the president’s claims are greatly exaggerated and politically motivated. They accuse Mr Trump of misusing his authority to punish opponents.
Judges have also voiced scepticism about the administration’s depiction of events. Local leaders say protests over immigration enforcement have been mostly small and peaceful, contradicting Mr Trump’s characterisation of “war zone” conditions.
Earlier this month, the administration federalised 300 members of the Illinois national guard and ordered additional Texas national guard troops into the state.
As local leaders condemned the move, Mr Trump escalated his rhetoric, calling on October 8th for the arrest of Chicago’s mayor and the Illinois governor, both Democrats, accusing them of failing to safeguard immigration officers.
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Illinois and Chicago jointly sued the administration to stop the deployment. On October 9th, district Judge April Perry, appointed by Joe Biden, issued a temporary injunction blocking the order.
Meanwhile in Chicago, at least 11 people were taken into custody outside the Broadview Ice detention centre following heated confrontations between Illinois state police and protesters.
“No Kings” organisers expected 2,600 rallies across all 50 US states on Saturday. The level of surveillance at protests and the type of technology in use was likely to be both location-specific and dependent on the police forces present, said Thorin Klosowski, a security and privacy activist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
For instance, crowds in Washington, D.C., where anti-scale fencing has been erected around the White House complex, are likely to be surveilled differently than those in a small rural town.
“Under previous administrations, law enforcement surveillance of peaceful demonstrations was already commonplace and corrosive of free expression,” Ryan Shapiro, executive director of government transparency group Property of the People, said in an email on Friday.
“Given Trump’s open hostility to even minor dissent, such surveillance now poses an existential threat to what remains of American democracy and only underscores the need for mass protest.” – Guardian/Reuters
