Illinois filed a lawsuit Monday to try to head off President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to quell anti-ICE protests near Chicago, saying he’s using a “flimsy” pretext to militarize law enforcement.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said it’s Mr. Trump who has turned what were “small demonstrations” into a broader unrest by using heavy-handed tactics to suppress the protests.

“The deployment of federalized National Guard, including from another state, infringes on Illinois’s sovereignty and right to self-governance. It will cause only more unrest, including harming social fabric and community relations and increasing the mistrust of police,” the state said in its lawsuit.

Judge April Perry, a Biden appointee, has been assigned to the case.

Illinois and Chicago, which joined the lawsuit, asked her to issue a restraining order heading off the troop deployment.

A federal judge in Oregon issued similar orders blocking Mr. Trump from federalizing and deploying guard troops to Portland.

SEE ALSO: Chicago declares ‘ICE-free’ zones as city escalates feud with Trump

In that case, Judge Karin Immergut, a Trump appointee, said the conditions on the ground showed low-level ongoing disruptions outside U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s office in Portland, which she said weren’t serious enough to justify the guard.

Mr. Raoul made a similar argument about Illinois, saying the protests outside ICE’s processing facility in Broadview, west of Chicago, haven’t even derailed the administration’s major immigration enforcement blitz that began last month.

The Democratic state attorney general heaped most of the blame for flaring passions on the feds.

He accused Homeland Security of distorting facts in the shooting death of a migrant target whom department officials said tried to drag ICE officers with his vehicle. And he said that was followed by other “provocative displays of force,” led by senior department leaders.

Mr. Raoul also said federal agents were using “chemical munitions” to “attack” protesters outside the ICE facility.

He said local police have opened a criminal investigation into the federal agents involved.

SEE ALSO: Judge issues new order blocking Trump from bringing out-of-state troops to Oregon

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.