Donald Trump will deploy 300 members of the National Guard in Illinois, state governor JB Pritzker said on Saturday.
“In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard,” Pritzker said in a statement. He added, “They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance, not a serious effort to protect public safety.”
“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” Pritzker continued, calling the Trump administration’s actions “outrageous and un-American.”
The Illinois governor claimed that his state had been given an ultimatum: to “call up your troops, or we will.” He also stated, “There is no need for military troops on the ground” in Illinois.
Pritzker further condemned recent actions, saying, “This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents.” He referenced incidents involving masked agents allegedly throwing chemical agents near an elementary school, arresting elected officials exercising their First Amendment rights, and raiding a Walmart store. “None of it was in pursuit of justice, but all of it was in pursuit of social media videos,” he added.
Earlier in the week, President Trump announced that his administration would be “going into Chicago very soon” while addressing military generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia. Trump referred to Pritzker as “a big city with an incompetent governor. Stupid governor.”
The U.S. president has long hinted at mobilizing the National Guard in Illinois. In September, Trump posted a graphic of himself wearing a cowboy hat, surrounded by explosions and military helicopters, with the words “Chipocalypse Now.” The accompanying Truth Social post read, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning. Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.”
Trump also warned the “weak and pathetic Governor” Pritzker to “straighten it out FAST.”
Previously, the president sent National Guard troops into Democrat-led cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. In Louisiana, Republican Governor Jeff Landry has requested up to 1,000 Louisiana National Guard troops to be activated in his state.
Earlier this week, Pritzker announced that the Illinois National Guard “received word that the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War seeking the deployment” of troops to Illinois. The mobilization, according to Pritzker, is for the “protection of ICE personnel and facilities.”
“What I have been warning of is now being realized,” the governor said. “One thing is clear: none of what Trump is doing is making Illinois safer.”
The National Guard’s deployment is just one of the Trump administration’s recent actions in Chicago. On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that ICE and U.S. Border Patrol officers had arrested “more than 800 illegal aliens,” including the “worst of the worst,” as part of Operation “Midway Blitz” in Chicago.
The operation began on September 8 and aims to “target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets,” according to a DHS press release.
On Friday, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought announced further funding actions related to immigration enforcement.
Pritzker’s announcement about the National Guard mobilization came on the same day officials reported that Border Patrol agents in Chicago had shot a woman after officers were allegedly “rammed by ten cars.”
According to a DHS statement, one of the drivers was a woman armed with a semi-automatic weapon, forcing officers to open fire. The woman was reportedly part of an internal threat bulletin after allegedly doxxing and threatening law enforcement officials online.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “Unfortunately, JB Pritzker’s Chicago Police Department is leaving the shooting scene and refuses to assist us in securing the area. There is a crowd growing, and we are deploying special operations to control a growing crowd.”
Images from the scene showed a large presence of federal agents blocking off a road with their vehicles as a crowd of protesters gathered.
A spokesperson for the Chicago Police Department told the Daily Mail, “The Chicago Police Department responded to the 3900 block of S. Kedzie Ave Saturday morning for a call of a person shot. CPD responded to the scene to document the incident. CPD officers were also on-scene to maintain safety and traffic control for all living and working in the area.”
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