Chicago leaders denounce Pentagon plans for military deployment in city

City and state leaders pilloried the Trump administration for planning to home in on Chicago - the third most populous city in the United States - as the next target for a military deployment in the name of addressing crime, immigration and homelessness, calling the idea unlawful and unnecessary.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said the state was not experiencing any emergency that would warrant a National Guard presence like that which the Pentagon has reportedly been considering. Instead, Pritzker said, President Donald Trump was “attempting to manufacture a crisis.”

Trump has portrayed Chicago as crime-riddled for years and suggested that it would be the National Guard’s next step in recent days, prompting some city leaders to rebuff those comments. On Saturday, The Washington Post first reported that the Pentagon has been considering options to deploy the National Guard in Chicago as early as September. If approved, Chicago would become the third U.S. city to face a recent deployment, coming on the heels of crackdowns in Los Angeles and D.C.

Chicago, a city of roughly 2.7 million, has seen a decrease in violent crime since a covid pandemic-era spike that mirrored other U.S. cities. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) noted in a statement Friday that over the past year homicides were down by more than 30 percent and shootings by nearly 40 percent.

At a block party on Saturday, Johnson, whose mayoralty in the Democratic stronghold has been challenged by low approval ratings, decried Trump’s depiction of his city.

“This is who Chicago really is,” Johnson said. “What’s being painted by the federal government is false. We love one another. We support one another. We put our arms around one another.”

In his statement Friday, Johnson wrote that he had “grave concerns” about a National Guard deployment, describing Trump’s approach as “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.”

The mayor added that the Trump administration had not yet contacted Chicago about federal law enforcement plans. Pritzker echoed that in his statement Saturday, saying he had not received any outreach from federal officials nor sought their law enforcement support.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois), an Army veteran who served in Iraq, reinforced the sentiments that a deployment in Chicago was unwarranted. In a statement Sunday, she called the Trump administration’s plans “deeply disturbing” and “un-American.”

Across the country, Democratic leaders have become frustrated with how the president and his allies have cast crime, immigration and other issues in their cities and states. Their fury comes as officials say Trump’s plans for Chicago could be used as a model for a similar National Guard deployment in other major cities.

In a Truth Social post Sunday, Trump threatened to send federal officers to Baltimore. The missive was the latest in a back-and-forth between Trump and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D), who has invited Trump to join him on a public safety walk in Baltimore to witness the city himself.

“As President, I would much prefer that he clean up this Crime disaster before I go there for a ‘walk,’” Trump wrote.

In a “Face The Nation” interview Sunday, Moore called the federal takeover of D.C. police both “unconstitutional” and “deeply disrespectful,” adding that he would not authorize Maryland’s National Guard to be deployed for the mission. Moore also defended his leadership of the state, saying he had helped make investments in local law enforcement to tackle crime there.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) mirrored her colleagues, saying Chicago crime was declining and there was “absolutely no rationale for” a military deployment.

Responding to The Post’s reporting Saturday, Stratton wrote on social media that the deployment plans were “just another distraction from the pain Trump is inflicting on working families with his dangerous agenda.”

Writing directly to Illinoisans, Stratton said that should the National Guard arrive in Chicago, she and state leaders would be there to “stand for your rights, your freedoms, and will protect you against whatever storms of hate and fear come our way.”