CHICAGO – Local leaders are responding after the White House confirmed President Donald Trump will deploy 300 National Guard troops to Chicago.

What we know:

Trump moved to deploy the National Guard to Chicago on Saturday by authorizing 300 troops to protect federal officers and assets in the city.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson confirmed that the president authorized using the Illinois National Guard members, citing what she called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have not quelled.

“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” Jackson said.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Sunday, “I’ve encouraged … the governor of Illinois and that attorney general to go down and spend some time with our ICE officers and with our border patrol officers and encounter the protesters that they do,” Noem said, “because these individuals are shouting hateful things at them, threatening their families, putting hands on them and acts of violence are occurring on a regular basis.”

Before the White House confirmed the move, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said he was given an ultimatum to “call up your troops, or we will.” Pritzker called the move “outrageous and un-American.”

He continued, “In Illinois, we will do everything within our power to look out for our neighbors, uphold the Constitution, and defend the rule of law.”

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Pritzker said, “They’re raiding neighborhoods where instead of going after the bad guys they’re just picking up people who are Brown and Black, and then checking their credentials. Are you a U.S. citizen? I don’t know about you, but I don’t carry around papers that say I’m a U.S. citizen. So you can imagine people are getting detained, they’re getting arrested – U.S. citizens.” 

He referenced the National Guard and the Trump administration when he said, “They are the ones that are making it a war zone. They need to get out of Chicago. If they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said was what they were gonna do, they need to get the heck out.”  

When Trump had first talked about sending troops to Chicago, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson previously stated, “The problem with the President’s approach is that it is uncoordinated, uncalled-for, and unsound. Unlawfully deploying the National Guard to Chicago has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement when we know that trust between police and residents is foundational to building safer communities. An unlawful deployment would be unsustainable and would threaten to undermine the historic progress we have made.”

What they’re saying:

“These are Illinoisans who will be ripped away from their families to serve in Trump’s political stunt. We have warned that this has been their plan all along, and now it’s here…Our city is not a sandbox for Donald Trump to play dictator. It’s intentional cruelty that will devastate families and scar our communities.

Let me be clear: the only emergency in Chicago is the chaos that Donald Trump and his administration are deliberately fueling in our streets. Journalists targeted and shot at, peaceful residents dragged from their homes, women and children zip-tied in the streets, families torn apart and stuffed into U-Hauls. This is unacceptable, reprehensible, and not what we stand for in Illinois.” – Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton

“Terrorizing families with midnight raids and military troops in our streets is writing a shameful chapter in our nation’s history.  This President is not intent on fighting crime.  He is intent on spreading fear.” – Sen. Dick Durbin

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said, “The Trump Administration’s escalation of militarized ICE raids across the Chicago area and its move to federalize our National Guard aren’t about safety—they’re about power and fear.
Illinois will stand firm in upholding the rule of law and protecting our communities.”

“If Donald Trump really cared about addressing crime, he would focus on states and cities with far higher crime rates than Chicago. Instead, he sends the National Guard to blue states and cities. This is political theater. Do we have more work to do when it comes to public safety? Absolutely — but Trump’s actions are not the answer.” – Alderman Gilbert Villegas