Texas National Guard troops are preparing to deploy to other states to help federal authorities fight crime, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced.
President Donald Trump earlier ordered the deployment of 400 National Guard troops from Texas to deploy to other states. "Our elite National Guard in Texas has begun its deployment and is flying to various locations across the country where it can protect ICE and other federal employees as they enforce the laws of the United States," Abbott said in an interview with Fox News.
In September, Trump announced that National Guard troops would be deployed to Chicago, Illinois' largest city, but did not specify when they would be deployed. The president has repeatedly criticized Illinois Governor J. Robert Pritzker for failing to provide security in Chicago. According to the American leader, the city has become a "hellhole" due to its appalling crime rate. Pritzker, for his part, claims that Trump considers himself a dictator and is threatening war on the American city.
Earlier today, Trump said he could declare a state of emergency to send the military to American cities, after deploying troops to Chicago and Portland against the will of local authorities and ignoring court orders, Agence France-Presse reported, quoted by BTA.
"There's a reason we have the Insurrection Act (an 1807 law that allows American presidents to mobilize certain units of the armed forces in emergencies - AFP note). If I had to use it, I would. "If people were being killed and the courts were blocking us or the governors or the mayors were blocking us, of course I would," Trump said during a conversation with reporters in the Oval Office.
The Riot Act was last invoked in 1992 during the riots and looting that followed the acquittal of police officers accused of beating black American Rodney King.
The White House often uses the term "riot" both to criticize some judges and to condemn protests against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who are implementing Trump's policy of mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
The US president also told reporters at the White House that he was open to a deal on subsidies provided by the Affordable Care Act, which Democrats want to settle their budget disputes in the Senate with Republicans that have led to a shutdown of the US federal government.