In a letter to top federal officials, U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin are demanding the federal government lay out parameters for using Naval Station Great Lakes for its immigration operation and that federal agents properly identify themselves while operating in Illinois.
The letter, obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, demands answers in writing from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on how the base would be used, an end date to the operation and all communications and documents from their agencies about using the base.
The letter said the Defense Department’s reliance on “verbal agreements” for base support was “easily susceptible to mission creep, difficult to communicate widely to all parties involved and not transparent or accountable to the taxpayers and their elected representatives.”
It requests confirmation that no more base resources will be diverted to the operation, that it won’t house “DHS-managed lethal munitions” or anyone detained by the agencies, that troops stationed there will not be asked to assist in immigration enforcement and that federal officials will wear “clear labels” identifying themselves while in Illinois.
“Your actions surrounding a threatened surge of law and immigration enforcement activity in Chicago so far accelerate a dangerous — and cowardly — trend of dodging reasonable and constitutionally-established oversight and basic accountability to the citizens of this country,” the officials wrote. “An agency of the U.S. government does not operate in secrecy in American communities if it thinks its actions are legal and defensible.”
Duckworth, Durbin and Schneider are set to meet Thursday with Navy Secretary John Phelan in Washington, D.C..
Last week, the three elected officials visited the North Chicago base but said DHS officials “refused” to meet with them and locked the doors to the base buildings allocated to federal agents.
The letter says the Department of Defense formally requested “office spaces” and storage for “‘less lethal’ munitions for DHS personnel” at the base a day after the Sun-Times reported on emails detailing the plan from the base’s commanding officer, Capt. Steve Yargosz.
The Defense Department’s request for assistance asked for three nearly 2,400 cubic-foot capacity storage containers for medical supplies and “less lethal munitions,” according to a spokesperson for Duckworth.
Sources familiar with base operations said no one at the military installation would be supporting immigration operations and that they were instructed to remain professional and “limit interactions” with federal agents, a source familiar with base operations said.
Installation staff would be the only ones interacting with federal officials, though updated guidance has not been circulated since then, the source told the Sun-Times.
“They have their mission to do and so do we,” Yargosz wrote to base leadership in an Aug. 30 email.
Duckworth has said Navy officials confirmed the federal presence wouldn’t hinder normal base operations, though the senator said concerns still remained about impact on the base and its trainees.
“Ultimately, we strongly urge your agencies to reverse this decision to allow a staging presence for DHS on NSGL and any other military installation in Illinois,” the letter said. “We oppose any wasteful diversion of attention and taxpayer dollars away from the core mission of NSGL and any other military installations toward law enforcement activities and the unconstitutional intimidation of our communities.”
Attention has shifted to immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump walked back threats to send the National Guard to Chicago, and troops were initially going to join federal agents at the base, according to emails to base leadership obtained and reported by the Sun-Times.
While Attorney General Pam Bondi teased Trump’s next domestic troop deployment at a press event in suburban Bensenville Wednesday, she said the president was still waiting for Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to ask for the troops.
Pritzker warned that he believes more ICE enforcement 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.”