A judge in the Northern District of Illinois, April Perry, has indefinitely barred U.S. President Donald Trump from deploying the National Guard to address unrest in Chicago, according to a federal court ruling.

Perry modified her previous decision, which had prohibited sending troops for two weeks. The Washington administration plans to challenge similar rulings in the U.S. Supreme Court. Several courts across the country have already blocked Trump’s orders to deploy National Guard units to states with populations that lean Democratic.

On October 8, the U.S. Northern Command reported that around 500 National Guard members had been deployed to maintain order in Illinois and sent to Chicago.

Trump has repeatedly criticized the Illinois governor for failing to secure the state’s largest city, calling Chicago a “hellhole” due to its severe crime situation. However, FBI data show that violent crime in Chicago in 2024 has actually decreased by 11% compared to 2023 and is nearly half the level before the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker stated that Trump sees himself as a dictator and is threatening war on an American city.