Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) said the Trump administration has not briefed anyone in the governor’s office about the deployment of federal officers into the city of Chicago, calling a possible deployment “an invasion with U.S. troops.”
Pritzker also claimed President Donald Trump has motives other than just fighting crime in the U.S. cities where he would send federal officers, saying the president would “like to stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections” in his interview with Ed O’Keefe on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday morning.
“He’ll just claim that there’s some problem with an election, and then he’s got troops on the ground that can take control if, in fact, he’s allowed to do this,” Pritzker added.
“National Guard troops — any kind of troops on the streets of an American city don’t belong unless there is an insurrection, unless there is truly an emergency. There is not,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker and Trump have bickered over Chicago crime since the president first announced the federal takeover of Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. Trump has consistently noted crime in much of his recent rhetoric surrounding Chicago, posting on Truth Social on Saturday night that federal officers are coming to the city if Pritzker doesn’t tackle crime problems himself.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called Pritzker’s comments a deflection from crime in Chicago.
“It’s amazing the lengths this slob will go to in order to deflect from the terrible crime crisis that has been plaguing Chicago for years. For 13 consecutive years, Chicago has had the most murders of any U.S. city, and for seven consecutive years, Chicago has had the highest murder rate among U.S. cities with more than 1 million people. More illegal guns are recovered in Chicago than in New York City and LA combined,” Jackson said.
“Chicago’s residents would be much safer if Pritzker actually did his job and addressed his crime problem instead of trying to be a Resistance Lib hero,” Jackson added.
Pritzker’s comments on Face the Nation came after Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News Radio‘s Guy Benson that her department would send a “strike team” to Chicago, “specifically targeting illegal criminals.” Pritzker told O’Keefe that Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been to the Windy City before, so Chicagoans “know what this looks like and are prepared.”
“Frankly, right here in Little Village, businesses had to close, people had to stay home — people who are U.S. citizens, by the way, because they’re afraid of being snatched off the streets and disappeared by people wearing masks and throwing them into vans,” Pritzker said. “We hope that they don’t send any troops along with ICE, and if they do, they’ll be in court pretty quickly because that is illegal. Posse Comitatus does not allow U.S. troops into U.S. cities to do- you know, to fight crime, to be involved in law enforcement.”
Trump border czar Tom Homan told the Washington Examiner on Friday that there have been “discussions” about using a naval base north of Chicago for ICE operations in the city.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION CONSIDERING USING MILITARY BASE NEAR CHICAGO FOR DEPORTATION EFFORTS
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, is taking preemptive measures before any ICE agents or National Guard members are directed to come to the city. Johnson signed a preemptive executive order this weekend, attempting to stave off any federal takeover initiatives from the Trump administration.
“This order affirms that the Chicago Police Department will not collaborate with military personnel on police patrols or civil immigration enforcement,” Johnson said. “We will not have our police officers, who are working hard every single day to drive down crime, deputized to do traffic stops and checkpoints for the president.”
