The political leaders of Illinois and the municipal officials of Chicago are raising alarms for the threat of President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops in the city, insisting that the sending of soldiers would not be fundamental and a clear case of federal overreach.
The governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, who plans to hold a press conference on Monday afternoon on Trump’s threats, criticized the president’s suggestion that federal soldiers were needed to combat crime, lack of housing and undocumented immigration in some of the main cities of the nation.
“Donald Trump is trying to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform and continue to abuse their power to distract the pain that is causing working families,” said Pritzker in a statement.
In recent weeks, the National Guard soldiers have fueled in Washington, DC to address what Trump has framed as an epidemic of “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and misery and worse.” He said Chicago and New York City are the following on his list.
Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the matter, reported on Saturday that the Pentagon has spent weeks planning a military deployment in Chicago.
According to reports, the plans involved several options, including sending a few thousand members of the guard to Chicago as soon as September. NBC News has not independently confirmed that report.
Pritzer, a Democrat who meets his second term, said that Illinois “has not received requests or dissemination of the federal government asking if we need help, and we have not made federal intervention requests.”
“There is no emergency that guarantees the president of the United States by federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard of other states or sending military in active duty within our own borders,” said the governor.
Pritzker planned to emphasize that point at a press conference in the center of Chicago at 3 PM CT (4 pm et) on Monday, according to Pritzker’s office. The lieutenant governor of Illinois, Juliana Stratton, has reflected the position of Pritzker, saying that there is no justification “for a deployment.
The mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson, a first -term Democrat, played a similar chord in an interview with NBC News.
“The guard is not necessary,” said Johnson. “This is not the role of our military. The brave men and women who registered to serve our country did not register to occupy US cities.
Traditionally, the federal government displays the members of the National Guard enlist to respond to the main national crises, such as national disasters, Covid pandemic and civil disturbances.
Johnson pointed out the city statistics that show a decrease in murders, shootings and car thefts. Chicago police crime data published earlier this month showed that the murders fell 31% during the same period last year, while the shootings had decreased by 36% and vehicle theft fell by 26%.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to an email on Monday that requested information about some of the preventive measures that are implemented before a possible federal implementation.
Trump, speaking with journalists from the Oval office on Monday morning, criticized Illinois political leaders and called Chicago a “disaster.” Trump called Johnson “incompetent” and labeled Pritzker “corrupt.”
He signed an executive order that creates units of the National Guard focused on “public order issues.”
Earlier this year, Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles to respond to protests about the immigration raids and deportations of his administration. The president did it for the vocal objections of the governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass.
Senator Dick Durbin and Senator Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic legislators representing Illinois in Washington, exclaimed Trump’s talk about troops deployments.
Durbin ruled out Trump’s threats as “purely political theater” and “nothing more than a power.” The fifth -term American senator, who does not seek re -election in 2026, urged political leaders to focus on “proven bipartisan solutions to continue reducing violent crime.”
Duckworth, veteran of combat of the US Army. And Lieutenant Colonel retired from the National Guard of the Army, criticized Trump’s threat as “deeply disturbing” and “non -American”.
“It is another unjustified, unwanted and unfair movement directly from the authoritarian’s play book that will only undermine the preparation of our military and finally weaken our national security,” Duckworth said in a statement.
