Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday said he’s “glad” President Donald Trump is signaling a shift away from sending the National Guard to Chicago — at least for now — but emphasized that a president-led military presence in the city is still a possibility, and more U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid activity is likely on the way.
Trump on Tuesday night told reporters that he would focus on sending the guard to another city and said he is working with a governor “who would love us to be there.” The president has yet to announce which city he was referencing.
“I’m not convinced that we’re not going to see military troops on the ground,” Pritzker said at a Chicago press briefing on Wednesday. “We don’t know. I mean, I wish the president would again recognize that military troops in American cities are something that just doesn’t belong. And he should not be ordering them into American cities.”
On the second full day of the Department of Homeland Security’s self-described “Operation Midway Blitz,” Pritzker again declared there is no emergency in Chicago that requires military troops on the ground. DHS on Tuesday told the Sun-Times to “stay tuned” when asked whether Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol official who led enforcement raids in California, had arrived in Chicago. There were no confirmed reports from DHS about Bovino’s involvement in enforcement as of Wednesday evening.
“Each day it seems like the president is deciding, you know, maybe you read something in the newspaper and he’ll send troops to Portland or perhaps in New Orleans or perhaps to Chicago, and so I’m always glad to know he’s not sending them to Chicago,” Pritzker said. “We don’t need them.”
The governor said sources within the Trump administration that had been tipping his office about the possibility of National Guard deployment have been quiet this week. Still, Pritzker warned that he believes more ICE enforcement, as part of “Operation Midwest Blitz,” is still on the way.
“They clearly have not gone out full force yet here with seemingly the number of people from ICE that they intended to have on the ground,” Pritzker said. “I haven’t seen all of those folks yet, but I anticipate that we will.”
Top Trump administration officials visit Illinois
Also on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. traveled to Bensenville to announce the seizure of 600,000 units of illegal vaping products. The operation was executed across six states and targeted five distributors and nine retailers, according to the Associated Press.
Bondi, too, teased Trump’s next troop deployment.
“The president wants cities to ask us. You’re going to hear an announcement very soon where we’re going next,” Bondi said. “But we want Chicago to ask us for the help and they’re not going to do that, I understand.”
Volunteers on alert
In response to Operation Midway Blitz, immigration activists have been volunteering to head to possible ICE raid activity when it happens.
Any Huamani’s day began at 6 a.m. Wednesday, with reports of a possible ICE arrest in the nearby suburbs. She quickly tapped into a network of almost 30 rapid response volunteers to see who could respond to the situation.
Since Sunday, Huamani, the immigration defense coordinator for the Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, has been working nonstop.
Along with leading programming for the community group, she has been fielding reports of possible ICE activity in and around the Southwest Side of Chicago. She says she’s barely had time to eat.
“It’s overwhelming,” Huamani said. “Yesterday, I fell asleep for 15 minutes, and I woke up and felt like, what did I miss?”
“We’ve just all been on edge,” her colleague, Karina Martinez, added.
Around 11 a.m. Wednesday, someone reached out about a suspicious vehicle on 48th Street and Kostner Avenue, right near their offices. Huamani jumped into action. She arrived at the block within 10 minutes but couldn’t locate the vehicle.
Huamani approached a nearby worker to ask if they saw anything. At the mention of ICE, the man immediately tensed up. She handed him a couple of “know your rights” flyers with a number to call if he sees anything.
That’s a typical response when reports are unfounded. In instances where rapid responders encounter agents, they work to quickly spread the word, knocking on doors and contacting nearby schools. If an arrest occurs, they track down family and connect them with legal resources.
Although anxiety is high, Martinez said she’s also seen the community come together in a powerful way over recent days.
“Even in these moments, we’ve seen the way communities are building their own forms of resistance,” Martinez said.
On Monday afternoon, Martinez said reports started circulating of possible federal agents on a nearby block, and neighbors began honking car horns to raise the alarm.
“It was just such a natural reaction that they had to protecting their people,” Martinez said. “And that was so beautiful.”