Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said Sunday that President Trump “essentially just declared war on a major city in his own nation” referring to his recent remarks about Chicago. But she outlined that “we don’t have any indications” that the administration is getting ready to send troops into the nation’s third-largest city, despite signals in recent weeks that he is preparing to do so.
“This is not normal,” Duckworth said of Mr. Trump’s statements on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “This is not acceptable behavior.”
In a Truth Social post on Saturday, Mr. Trump shared a screenshot that read “Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” alongside an AI-generated image that appeared to be inspired by the movie “Apocalypse Now.” On Friday, Mr. Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense the Department of War, though a formal name change would have to go through Congress. He is expected to seek congressional approval.
Mr. Trump told reporters Sunday that “we’re not going to war.”
“We’re going to clean up our cities. We’re going to clean them up so they don’t kill five people every weekend,” the president said. “That’s not war, that’s common sense.”
The post marked the latest in a series of threats Mr. Trump has made to send troops to Chicago as part of a nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration and crime, following his decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles in June. California Gov. Gavin Newsom challenged the legality of that deployment, and a judge ruled last week that it violated federal law, although the ruling appeared to only apply to California.
Despite Mr. Trump’s rhetoric, Vice President JD Vance said in recent days that the administration has “no immediate plans” to send National Guard forces to Chicago. The comments came one day after Mr. Trump again suggested he would send federal forces to Chicago, saying “we’re going in.”
Still, Duckworth said she takes what the president says seriously.
“I take what the president of the United States says very seriously, because that is the respect you have to give to the office,” Duckworth said. “And if that’s what he’s declaring, then let me make it clear: it would be an illegal order to declare war on a major city, any city within the United States, by the President of the United States.”
Duckworth was among a group of Illinois leaders who visited the Naval Station Great Lakes Saturday, following news that some federal immigration enforcement agents will be based there. She said military leadership confirmed that the only assistance they’ve been requested to provide to the federal government is for office space for ICE.
“No barracks, no detention facilities, none of that is being requested or prepared in order to support troops into Chicago,” Duckworth said.
The Illinois Democrat said “we certainly have sent the administration multiple inquiries about what they are planning on doing,” adding that the administration hasn’t reached out to local law enforcement to try to coordinate.
“If they were truly, truly interested in fighting crime, then they would work with local law enforcement and ask them, ‘What do you need? What help do you need?'” Duckworth said. “And we’ve not gotten any, any communications or feedback from the administration whatsoever.”
The developments come after Mr. Trump deployed the National Guard in Washington, D.C. last month as part of an anti-crime initiative, while vowing to intervene in cities like Chicago and Baltimore next.
Local leaders have pushed back on the federal government’s threats to intervene on crime in Chicago, which could draw legal challenges.
A CBS News poll released Sunday found that a majority of Americans, 58%, are opposed to the president deploying National Guard troops to other cities beyond Washington, D.C. But a large majority, 85%, of his Republican base support these deployments.
