Trump plans to deploy National Guard in Illinois, Pritzker says; woman shot during chaotic ICE action in Chicago

Tensions over the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Chicago significantly escalated on Saturday as angry residents faced off against heavily armed federal agents, resulting in the shooting of a woman and warnings from Gov. JB Pritzker (D) that 300 National Guard troops are being activated against his wishes.

The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said Saturday.

A woman was shot by federal agents during immigration enforcement operations in the city’s Brighton Park neighborhood Saturday, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. She said that agents fired after “officers were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”

The agents exited their vehicles and fired “defensive shots,” hitting the woman, McLaughlin said. The woman, who was a U.S. citizen but not identified, drove herself to a nearby hospital, according to DHS.

The Washington Post could not immediately verify DHS’s version of events. The woman who was shot “drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds,” McLaughlin added.

The Chicago Police Department said officers were called to the scene after the shooting, and remained there to maintain traffic and safety for the neighborhood. The department declined to comment on the incident and said federal authorities are handling the investigation into the shooting. Mount Sinai Hospital told The Washington Post the woman had been treated and was released.

Pritzker said the guard received word from the Pentagon in the morning that the troops would be called up. He did not specify when or where they would be deployed, but President Donald Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago.

“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.” ​

The governor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for addition details.

The escalation of federal law enforcement in Illinois follows similar deployments in other parts of the country, including in Baltimore and Memphis. Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and as part of his law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C.

Pritzker called Trump’s move in Illinois a “manufactured performance” that would pull the state’s National Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs.

“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” said the governor, who also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Broadview facility on the outskirts of Chicago.

Army combat veteran and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, called Trump’s federalization of the state National Guard “dangerous, un-American, and unconstitutional abuse of our military.”

“Our military men and women signed up to defend the constitution and our rights, not be used as political props or to silence dissent,” she said in a statement.

“Policing Americans is fundamentally not the military’s job,” she added. “Deploying the military to American streets takes them away from their critical missions combating foreign enemies and erodes the trusted relationship between the public and the service members who are meant to protect them.”

Officials with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office did not immediately respond to the governor’s statement Saturday. But two officials familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said discussions have been ongoing for a federalized mission in Chicago and possibly other cities, similar to what Pritzker suggested.

Officials with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office did not immediately respond to the governor’s statement Saturday. But two officials familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said discussions have been ongoing for a federalized mission in Chicago and possibly other cities, similar to what Pritzker suggested.

In a series of other chaotic events, federal agents Saturday shot chemical irritants at the more than 100 demonstrators who were protesting enforcement operations in Brighton Park, a neighborhood in southwest Chicago. Online videos show residents forcing ICE agents to retreat down neighborhood streets.

Jesus, a 30-year-old Brighton Park resident who asked that he be identified only by his first name out of concern for his safety, was headed to the washroom around 11 a.m. when he heard cries of “La Migra!” and “ICE is out!” echoing outside on his normally quiet street.

He stepped outside to learn from residents that federal agents had shot a woman nearby and watched as unmarked cars with no license plates lined up at an intersection. Over the next few hours, crowds gathered to protest immigration agents who had set up several police lines.

Once agents began firing chemical rounds and stun grenades into the street, Jesus said, protesters ran to his stoop asking for water to wash off the irritants. He and his partner invited protesters to their stoop to flush their eyes and distributed water, snacks and protective gear.

“To have it in our community, five feet away, is petrifying,” Jesus said of the federal response.

Though Jesus and his partner are U.S. citizens, he told The Post he’s felt deeply anxious over the past two months as he said the federal immigration agents have increasingly engaged in racial profiling.

“I’m always afraid that something will happen to me while waiting on the bus when I get out of work late at night — that some unmarked van will spontaneously pull up and just snag me without leaving a trace,” Jesus said. He and his partner have developed contingency plans and code words and have tucked AirTags into their shoes and bags should the other go missing.

Jesus said he believes federal agents don’t care if they violate the law anymore. “They just look at the color of our skin. So, for me, as a U.S. citizen, I’m Brown-skinned. That makes me an easy target to get grabbed by these people for no reason.”

On Friday, federal agents were seen detonating chemical irritants as they drove down a street in Chicago. The irritants affected operations at a nearby elementary school, Pritzker said. Pritzker referred to the federal operations as “unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents.”

McLaughlin, the DHS spokeswoman, countered that ICE agents are being threatened and attacked in Chicago. She said the woman who was shot Saturday had previously threatened ICE agents in social media posts.

“The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop,” McLaughlin said.

But Brandon Lee, communications director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, questioned Homeland Security’s accounting of the shooting.

Lee said preliminary information suggests the border patrol agents “crashed into a civilian vehicle” during an enforcement operation. The accident led to a “chaotic scene” where local residents stood up to demand accountability.

“ICE is coming in from the outside and they are the ones creating this atmosphere of fear, detaining community members without warrants, and carrying out these operations with militarized equipment,” Lee said.

If federalized, the National Guard members in Illinois would work under Title 10 of federal law, prohibiting them from carrying out law enforcement duties. The mission would probably focus more narrowly on protecting federal law enforcement personnel and facilities, the officials said. It was not clear Saturday whether Guard members would carry firearms.

Separately, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem said Saturday she will be deploying more “Special Operations” officers to Chicago.

Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.

On Friday, 200 Oregon National Guard troops were federalized by President Donald Trump, after he said the city of Portland had become a “war zone.”

• Daily Herald staff writer Madhu Krishnamurthy, The Associated Press and The Washington Post contributed.