The White House confirmed Saturday it has “authorized” the deployment of National Guard units to Illinois over opposition from Gov. JB Pritzker, who earlier had called that possibility “absolutely outrageous and un-American.”
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets,” White House spokesman Abigail Jackson said in a statement issued late Saturday afternoon.
“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” Jackson said.
Pritzker’s administration did not have any immediate comment to the White House statement, which did not make clear where the National Guard units were coming from, where they would be deployed or when they would begin appearing here.
A Chicago Sun-Times query to the White House to clarify those questions went unanswered Saturday afternoon.
The White House statement came after Pritzker posted details on his social media feeds about an ultimatum from the White House, dictating to him, “Call up your troops, or we will.”
“In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard,” Pritzker said in the statement.
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Pritzker said.
The request to the Illinois National Guard comes after Pritzker said this week the Department of Homeland Security sought to deploy 100 military troops to Illinois “for the protection of ICE personnel and facilities.”
Trump has threatened to send troops to Chicago for more than a month since launching an aggressive immigration enforcement operation, citing the city’s crime rate — which has seen a decline in both violent crime and its murder rates. But DHS and Attorney General Pam Bondi have amplified their messaging that ICE agents are under attack.
On Saturday morning, a woman was shot by U.S. Border Patrol agents on the city’s South Side, marking the second shooting of a civilian since the start of the administration’s operation.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth slammed Trump for signaling plans to federalize Illinois National Guard troops and deploy them here.
“Donald Trump federalizing the Illinois National Guard is a dangerous, un-American, and unconstitutional abuse of our military, intended to instill fear and threaten American civil rights,” Duckworth said. “Our military men and women signed up to defend the constitution and our rights, not be used as political props or to silence dissent. Illinois does not want or need troops in our cities. Full stop.”
In the weeks since the Trump administration’s increase in immigration enforcement, ICE agents have raided an apartment building in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood, pulling men, women and children from their apartments and detaining them for hours overnight. At demonstrations outside ICE’s Broadview facility, protesters have been tear gassed and shot with pepper pellets. Steve Held, a Chicago journalist, was arrested outside of the facility and detained for hours.
In his statement early Saturday, Pritzker called the deployment of National Guard troops a “manufactured performance,” not a serious effort to protect public safety.
“For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety,” Pritzker said. “This is about control.”