GEOFF BENNETT: President Trump and his team are ramping up efforts to deploy the National Guard to Democratic-led cities and to expand ICE enforcement operations.

Some members of the Guard have been moved into the Chicago area.

And the president argues they should also be in Portland, Oregon.

Those plans were the focus of two federal court hearings today.

And just this evening, a federal judge in Chicago blocked the Trump administration's request for now to deploy the Guard, saying there's no danger of a rebellion to justify it.

She said the Guard would only -- quote -- "add fuel to the fire."

William Brangham reports on those developments.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Handcuffing a city councilmember, deploying tear gas near a public school, and, in this stylized video shot and distributed by the Department of Homeland Security, rappelling from a helicopter and storming an apartment complex while families inside slept, it's all part of a wave of aggressive actions by federal immigration agents in Chicago in recent weeks.

LAWRENCE BENITO, Executive Director, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights: Their behavior definitely feels like it has escalated, where they now have permission to use excessive force.

It feels like it's shoot first, ask questions later.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lawrence Benito runs the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

His staff were on scene within hours after the helicopter-led raid.

LAWRENCE BENITO: They knocked down every door and took almost every person in that building, regardless of citizenship status.

There were children.

There were mothers.

All were taken, all were zip-tied, with no real communication about what they were there for or no real transparency whether they had warrants to do what they did or not.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin rejected those accusations, writing: "Children were never zip-tied.

This is a shameful and disgusting lie."

In the last month, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in and around Chicago since the Trump administration ramped up immigration raids in the city.

And, today, during a Cabinet meeting, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem defended the administration's moves and said they will ramp up the federal presence.

KRISTI NOEM, U.S.

Homeland Security Secretary: We're purchasing more buildings in Chicago to operate out of.

We're going to not back off.

In fact, we're doubling down, and we're going to be in more parts of Chicago.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This week, over the objections of state and local leaders, President Trump mobilized and deployed some 200 members of the Texas National Guard to Chicago.

DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States: We have cities where this tremendous crime.

And Chicago is one of them.

And if the governor can't straighten it out, we will straighten it out.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The administration says the Guard is needed to protect ICE agents from protests, which have erupted at an ICE facility outside the city.

Protesters have blocked government vehicles at the entrance to the site and agents have thrown demonstrators to the ground, deployed tear gas and fire pepper balls.

In one instance last month, a DHS agent appears to shoot a protesting Presbyterian minister in the head with a pepper ball.

In response, DHS said force was necessary because protesters were impeding operations and they'd been ordered to leave the federal property.

And further away from that facility, there have been two separate incidents in the last month underscoring the rising tensions between the community and federal officials.

In one instance, an ICE agent shot and killed Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez, a 38-year-old father of two during a traffic stop.

DHS alleges Gonzalez resisted arrest and dragged the agent with his car.

Agents were not wearing body cameras.

And one eyewitness said Gonzalez was driving away, trying to escape.

And then, over the weekend, protests broke out when a federal agent shot a woman who allegedly rammed his vehicle.

Yesterday, hundreds marched peacefully through downtown Chicago in opposition to the immigration crackdown and the National Guard's presence.

The city and the state are both suing the Trump administration over the move.

GOV.

J.B.

PRITZKER (D-IL): Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Earlier this week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order declaring certain spaces off-limits to federal agents.

BRANDON JOHNSON (D), Mayor of Chicago, Illinois: That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as staging grounds for these raids.

WOMAN: No hate, no fear.

PROTESTERS: ICE isn't welcome here!

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In Southwest Chicago earlier this week, local officials and community leaders rallied at a shopping plaza they say has been used as a meeting point for immigration raids.

JULIA RAMIREZ, Chicago, Illinois, Alderwoman: Every week, we see more agents.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Alderwoman Julia Ramirez represents this area.

JULIA RAMIREZ: They aren't knocking on doors anymore.

And so we question sort of who they're targeting.

And, mostly, it's just Hispanic-, Latino-looking men.

And so we just feel like it's pure harassment just based off of the color of your skin and the neighborhood that you live in.

CORINA PEDRAZA, Grassroots Organizer: People are afraid to go out and buy groceries for their families.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Corina Pedraza is a grassroots organizer.

CORINA PEDRAZA: People who work five, six blocks down the street are scrolling through social media, are calling people, are wondering, do I have to cut through the alley?

How do I get to my job safely and ensure that I can get back home safely to my children, that someone is not going to drive by and snatch me and push me into a car?

And who knows after that?

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The president has defended the hard-line tactics of federal agents, citing public safety.

DONALD TRUMP: They don't want to have a safe Chicago, and we can solve the problem very quickly.

And we're doing that anyway.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In some quarters of the city, that approach is welcomed.

JOANNIE PITTMAN, Chicago Resident: Chicago has been really violent.

Can't even sit on your front porch no more.

People just get shot right in front of your face.

So I do feel like he's doing the right thing.

BYRON SIGCHO-LOPEZ, Chicago, Illinois, Alderman: Deploying military on American cities is unprecedented.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez represents a heavily Latino district with a large immigrant population.

He says these enforcement actions are upending his community.

BYRON SIGCHO-LOPEZ: What I have seen is people selling flowers in the street being arrested.

What we're seeing, people leaving in construction sites being arrested.

These are working people.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: He dismisses the president's argument that National Guard troops will reduce violence.

BYRON SIGCHO-LOPEZ: If this is really about public safety, then the federal government would not be withholding over $800 million for violence prevention programs, billions of dollars for schools, billions of dollars for food, SNAP programs, for public health, programs that are basic for our communities.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But, in the meantime, many Chicago communities remain on edge, awaiting the next steps from the Trump administration.

For the "PBS News Hour," I'm William Brangham.