Illinois leaders went to court on Monday to stop US President Donald Trump from sending National Guard troops to Chicago, escalating a clash between Democrat-led states and the Republican administration during an aggressive immigration enforcement operation in the nation’s third-largest city.

The legal challenge came hours after a judge blocked the Guard’s deployment in Portland, Oregon.

The Trump administration has portrayed the cities as war-ravaged and lawless amid the government’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

Officials in Illinois and Oregon say military intervention is not needed and that federal involvement is inflaming the situation.

The lawsuit alleges that “these advances in President Trump’s long-declared ‘War’ on Chicago and Illinois are unlawful and dangerous”.

“The American people, regardless of where they reside, should not live under the threat of occupation by the United States military, particularly not simply because their city or state leadership has fallen out of a president’s favor,” the lawsuit says.