Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told CBS News the Trump administration has not communicated with his state on a reported plan to send military forces to Chicago, calling the idea an “invasion” and arguing President Trump has “other aims” aside from cracking down on crime.
Asked about a possible military deployment to America’s third-largest city, which was recently reported by The Washington Post, Pritzker told CBS News: “It’s clear that, in secret, they’re planning this — well, it’s an invasion with U.S. troops, if they, in fact, do that.”
Mr. Trump has deployed National Guard forces and federal agents to the streets of two other major cities — Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. — in recent months, part of what the president casts as a crackdown against illegal immigration, violent crime and civil unrest.
Last week, the president said his administration could take similar steps in Chicago. Mr. Trump called the city a “mess” and lashed out against Mayor Brandon Johnson, saying, “We’ll straighten that one out probably next.”
Mr. Trump is planning major immigration enforcement operations in Chicago that could start as soon as next week, echoing a similar operation in Los Angeles, sources told CBS News. And The Washington Post has reported that the Pentagon is drawing up plans to potentially send thousands of National Guard members to the Midwest’s largest metro area as early as September — though those plans haven’t been publicly confirmed.
Pritzker told CBS News that, if Mr. Trump sends the Guard to Chicago, voters “should understand that he has other aims, other than fighting crime.”
The governor argued that the president’s gambit may be part of a plan to “stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections.”
He also called the idea “an attack on the American people.”
“Now, he may disagree with a state that didn’t vote for him. But, should he be sending troops in? No,” Pritzker said in an interview with CBS News in Chicago.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson rejected Pritzker’s accusations and blasted the city’s violent crime rate.
“It’s amazing the lengths this slob will go to in order to deflect from the terrible crime crisis that has been plaguing Chicago for years,” Jackson said in a statement to CBS News. “Chicago’s residents would be much safer if Pritzker actually did his job and addressed his crime problem instead of trying to be a Resistance Lib hero.”
The Guard deployments in Los Angeles and D.C. have drawn stiff pushback from elected officials who argue local police are better able to handle crime, and warn the presence of federal agents and military personnel could inflame tensions.
Future military deployments could also draw legal challenges. While Mr. Trump controls the D.C. National Guard outright, the governors of the 50 states typically control their own Guard forces except in certain circumstances.
The Trump administration deployed thousands of California National Guard members to Los Angeles over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s objections in June, arguing they were necessary to protect federal immigration agents and facilities from tense protests in the city.
The state of California sued the administration, calling the deployment illegal. An appeals court found that Mr. Trump likely did have the legal authority to call up the state’s National Guard, under a law that lets the president call Guard forces into federal service during a “rebellion” or if he isn’t able to “execute the laws of the United States.” A lower court is still reviewing whether military forces in Los Angeles were inappropriately used for law enforcement purposes.
Watch more of Ed O’Keefe’s interview with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
