Pope Leo XIV avoided commenting on President Donald Trump’s recent decision to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to US cities, including Chicago, saying only, “I prefer not to comment about choices made, political choices, within the United States. Thank you very much.”
Trump announced that hundreds of troops would be sent to Chicago, the home city of the Pope, describing the city’s crime as “out of control.” The deployment followed a confrontation between federal immigration officers and protesters in the city, during which officials said an armed woman was shot after allegedly ramming into law enforcement cars.
Democrats immediately condemned the president’s decision. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker accused Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” and said the move represented an abuse of executive power.
The announcement came as the administration faced legal challenges over similar deployments in other cities. A federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the deployment of federalized National Guard troops to Portland, ruling that the president’s justification for using military forces was not supported by evidence.
Judge Karin Immergut said Trump’s statements about conditions in Portland were “untethered to the facts” and that the move violated constitutional limits. She wrote that deploying troops without a state’s consent “risks blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation.”
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, welcomed the ruling, saying, “There is no insurrection in Portland, no threat to national security. The only threat we face is to our democracy—and that threat is being led by President Trump.”
Trump announced that hundreds of troops would be sent to Chicago, the home city of the Pope, describing the city’s crime as “out of control.” The deployment followed a confrontation between federal immigration officers and protesters in the city, during which officials said an armed woman was shot after allegedly ramming into law enforcement cars.
Democrats immediately condemned the president’s decision. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker accused Trump of “attempting to manufacture a crisis” and said the move represented an abuse of executive power.
The announcement came as the administration faced legal challenges over similar deployments in other cities. A federal judge in Oregon temporarily blocked the deployment of federalized National Guard troops to Portland, ruling that the president’s justification for using military forces was not supported by evidence.
Judge Karin Immergut said Trump’s statements about conditions in Portland were “untethered to the facts” and that the move violated constitutional limits. She wrote that deploying troops without a state’s consent “risks blurring the line between civil and military federal power — to the detriment of this nation.”
Oregon Governor Tina Kotek, a Democrat, welcomed the ruling, saying, “There is no insurrection in Portland, no threat to national security. The only threat we face is to our democracy—and that threat is being led by President Trump.”
