A federal appeals court temporarily allowed the Trump administration to keep the National Guard under federal command in Illinois — but blocked its use for active deployment.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals issued the emergency order Saturday, granting the administration’s request for a stay “as to the federalization of the National Guard” but denying it “as to the deployment of the National Guard.”
“Pending a decision on the request for a stay pending appeal, the district court’s October 9, 2025, order is temporarily STAYED only to the extent it enjoined the federalization of the National Guard of the United States within Illinois,” the order reads.
The ruling means the Illinois National Guard remains under federal authority — at least for now — but cannot be used on the ground in Chicago or elsewhere in the state. The court added that “members of the National Guard do not need to return to their home states unless further ordered by a court to do so.”
The decision came just two days after U.S. District Judge April M. Perry temporarily blocked President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy Guard troops as part of “Operation Midway Blitz,” a multi-state immigration enforcement initiative that Illinois officials have condemned as unconstitutional.
Saturday’s order offers a partial reprieve for Trump, leaving the federal government with the authority to assert command over Guard units but unable to send them into Chicago communities for enforcement or patrol.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson hailed the district court’s earlier decision as a stand for state sovereignty and civil rights. The partial stay now creates a legal limbo — one that could shape how far the federal government can go in using military forces within U.S. borders without a state’s consent.
The appellate panel did not indicate when it would rule on the broader appeal, but the administrative stay will remain in place while judges consider the full motion.
The Seventh Circuit’s decision is similar to one delivered earlier this week from the Ninth Circuit in Oregon, where judges likewise allowed federal control of the National Guard to continue while blocking its deployment.
The fight over Trump’s use of the Guard underscores a deeper struggle between state control and federal power — and between democratic norms and authoritarian impulses.
Even as the order paused part of Illinois’ victory, it reaffirmed an essential limit that the president’s troops cannot yet march into Chicago’s streets.
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