Illinois political leaders and Chicago municipal officials are raising alarms over President Donald Trump’s threat to deploy National Guard troops to the city, insisting that sending in soldiers would be baseless and a clear case of federal overreach.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who plans to hold a news conference Monday afternoon about Trump’s threats, blasted the president’s suggestion that federal soldiers were needed to combat crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration in some of the nation’s major cities.
“Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” Pritzker said in a statement.
In recent weeks, National Guard soldiers have fanned out across Washington, D.C. to tackle what Trump has framed as an epidemic of “crime, bloodshed, bedlam and squalor and worse.” He has said Chicago and New York City are next on his list.
The Washington Post, citing officials familiar with the matter, reported Saturday that the Pentagon has spent weeks planning a military deployment to Chicago.
The plans reportedly involved several options, including dispatching a few thousand members of the Guard to Chicago as soon as September. NBC News has not independently confirmed that report.
Pritzer, a Democrat serving his second term, said Illinois has “received no requests or outreach from the federal government asking if we need assistance, and we have made no requests for federal intervention.”
“There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active duty military within our own borders,” the governor said.
Pritzker planned to emphasize that point at a news conference in downtown Chicago at 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) Monday, according to Pritzker’s office. Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton has mirrored Pritzker’s position, saying in part there’s “no rationale” for a deployment.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a first-term Democrat, struck a similar chord in an interview with NBC News.
“The guard is not needed,” Johnson said. “This is not the role of our military. The brave men and women who signed up to serve our country did not sign up to occupy American cities.
Traditionally, the federal government deploys enlisted National Guard members to respond to major domestic crises such as national disasters, the Covid pandemic and civil unrest.
Johnson pointed to city statistics showing a decline in murders, shootings and car thefts. Chicago police crime data released earlier this month showed murders were down 31% over the same period last year, while shootings had dropped by 36% and vehicle thefts were down 26%.
The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to an email Monday requesting information about some of the pre-emptive measures being put in place ahead of a possible federal deployment.
Trump, speaking to reporters from the Oval Office on Monday morning, blasted Illinois political leaders and called Chicago a “disaster.” Trump called Johnson “incompetent” and labeled Pritzker “corrupt.”
He signed an executive order that creates National Guard units focused on “public order issues.”
Earlier this year, Trump deployed the National Guard to Los Angeles to respond to protests over his administration’s immigration raids and deportations. The president did so over the vocal objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, the Democratic lawmakers who represent Illinois in Washington, both excoriated Trump’s talk of troop deployments.
Durbin dismissed Trump’s threats as “purely political theater” and “nothing more than a power grab.” The fifth-term U.S. Senator, who is not seeking re-election in 2026, urged political leaders to instead focus on “proven bipartisan solutions to continue to reduce violent crime.”
Duckworth, a U.S. Army combat veteran and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel, slammed Trump’s threat as “deeply disturbing” and “un-American.”
“It’s yet another unwarranted, unwanted and unjust move straight out of the authoritarian’s playbook that will only undermine our military’s readiness and ultimately weaken our national security,” Duckworth said in a statement.
