300 Illinois National Guard troops could deploy in Chicago within days, stay 2 months, report says

At least 300 Illinois National Guard members will be deployed in Illinois for 60 days to protect federal immigration agents and property, according to a Pentagon memo obtained by NPR.

The memo did not say when the troops would be deployed. An unnamed official who spoke with NPR said it would take “at least a couple of days” to select the guard units and deploy them to the state.

The troops will be stationed “in places where there are violent demonstrations in the state, or where they’re likely to occur based on current threat assessments,” according to NPR.

During a “Fox & Friends Weekend” appearance, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said federal immigration agents have been repeatedly attacked while operating in and around Chicago.

“I’ve encouraged … the governor of Illinois and that attorney general to go down and spend some time with our ICE officers and with our border patrol officers and encounter the protesters that they do,” Noem said, “because these individuals are shouting hateful things at them, threatening their families, putting hands on them and acts of violence are occurring on a regular basis.”

In response, Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday on CNN the Trump administration was “making it a war zone.”

“They’re raiding neighborhoods where, instead of going after the bad guys, they’re just picking up people who are Brown and Black and then checking their credentials,” Pritzker said. “They need to get out of Chicago. If they’re not going to focus on the worst of the worst, which is what the president said they were going to do, they need to get the heck out.”

During a White House press briefing Sunday, President Donald Trump said Pritzker was “afraid for his life” while scores of people were killed in Chicago over the last couple of months. He also claimed it took 12 days for his administration to stop crime in Washington, D.C.

This summer, Chicago saw the fewest homicides in 60 years.