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Defense chiefs are drawing up plans to deploy the US military to Chicago, as part of the President’s crackdown on crime, homelessness and illegal immigration.
According to The Washington Post, the Department of Defense has been planning a deployment for several weeks.
A number of different options, including the mobilization of thousands of National Guard soldiers, are being considered.
“Chicago is a mess,” the President told reporters on Friday.
“And we’ll straighten that one out, probably next.”
In response to the report, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said the state had not been notified of any impending operation by the federal government. He also denied there is an emergency that warrants the deployment of soldiers to Chicago.
“Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” Pritzker said.
On Friday, in response to President Trump’s comments, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said his approach is “uncoordinated, uncalled for and unsound,” adding that crime has fallen in his city over the last year.
President Trump’s crackdown began two weeks ago, when he exercised federal authority over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and ordered 800 D.C. National Guard troops to be activated throughout the city “to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.”
“We’re formally declaring a public safety emergency. This is an emergency. This is a tragic emergency, and it’s embarrassing,” Trump said.
“This city will no longer be a sanctuary for illegal alien criminals.
“We will have full, seamless, integrated cooperation at all levels of law enforcement, and we’ll deploy officers across the district with an overwhelming presence.”
Last week, the governors of West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio announced they would be sending hundreds of local National Guard to aid President Trump’s crackdown in the capital.
The soldiers from West Virginia, South Carolina and Ohio will join members of the DC National Guard, as well as around 3,000 police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department and 500 federal law enforcement personnel.
On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized 2,000 armed National Guard to patrol the streets of Washington DC if needed.
“At the direction of the Secretary of Defense, JTF-DC members supporting the mission to lower the crime rate in our nation’s capital will soon be on mission with their service-issued weapons, consistent with their mission and training,” the official said.
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