The Pentagon is drawing up plans to send U.S. military forces to Chicago as part of President Donald Trump’s push to clamp down on crime, homelessness, and undocumented immigration,
according to a report from The Washington Post.
Officials familiar with the discussions told the paper that the Defense Department has been considering several options for weeks. One proposal involves mobilizing a few thousand National Guard troops as early as September.
“Chicago is a mess,” Trump told reporters Friday, again targeting Democratic-led cities and criticizing the city’s mayor. “And we’ll straighten that one out probably next.”
In a statement late Saturday, the Pentagon declined to discuss specifics, saying only: “We won’t speculate on further operations. The department is a planning organization and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”
The White House did not elaborate beyond Trump’s comments.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Democrat, pushed back sharply, saying the state had received no outreach from the federal government and that no emergency justified such a deployment.
“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.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has also raised concerns, calling the idea of sending in troops “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.” He pointed out that crime in Chicago has actually dropped significantly in the past year, with homicides down more than 30%, robberies down 35%, and shootings down nearly 40%.
This isn’t the first time Trump has leaned on the military to intervene in U.S. cities. Just last weekend, he asked Republican governors in three states to send National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., despite Justice Department data showing violent crime there is at a 30-year low.
And earlier this summer, Trump ordered thousands of troops into Los Angeles during protests against immigration raids, despite opposition from California’s Democratic governor. Photo by "DoD photo by Master Sgt. Ken Hammond, U.S. Air Force.", Wikimedia commons.
