The state of Illinois and the city of Chicago filed suit against the Trump administration on Monday seeking to enjoin the deployment of National Guard troops.

“These advances in President Trump’s long-declared ‘War’ on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous,” the complaint asserts.

The suit comes after Secretary of Defense (“Secretary of War”) Pete Hegseth sought to federalize the Illinois National Guard, under 10 U.S.C. § 12406, against the wishes of Governor JB Pritzker. According to the complaint:

There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard or sending in federal agents. There is no insurrection in Illinois. There is no rebellion in Illinois. The federal government is able to enforce federal law in Illinois. The manufactured nature of the crisis is clear.

The suit followed what the complaint called “The Texas Mobilization Order.” Four hundred troops from the Texas National Guard have been federalized, with the consent of Governor Greg Abbott, to deploy in Chicago and Portland. “Chicago is a war zone,” Trump said.

“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said, claiming that “violent riots” threaten federal employees in Chicago.

Plaintiffs claimed in response that National Guard presence in Chicago “is based on a flimsy pretext: protests outside a two-story ICE processing facility in Broadview, a suburb of Chicago…have been small, primarily peaceful, and unfortunately escalated by [Department of Homeland Security’s] own conduct,” adding:

Among other things, Trump and [Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem] have sent a surge of SWAT-tactic trained federal agents to Illinois to use unprecedented, brute force tactics for civil immigration enforcement…The community’s horror at these tactics and their significant consequences have resulted in entirely foreseeable protests. In response to those protests, local and state law enforcement agencies…have been deployed to Broadview to maintain the peace…There is no legal or factual justification for Defendants’ Federalization Order.

The suit accused the federal government of violating the Posse Comitatus Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. It also alleged violations of the Tenth Amendment, separation of powers and equal sovereignty principles, and the Militia and Take Care clauses. Plaintiffs claimed that President Trump has “a long history of animus towards Chicago and Illinois,” citing social media posts from 2013 and his recent address to many of the nation’s top generals and admirals.

Illinois joined Oregon and California in challenging National Guard deployment to US cities. A judge in Washington, D.C. has yet to rule on a similar suit there. Illinois and Chicago seek emergency, declaratory, and injunctive relief.