CHICAGO (WLS) — The Trump administration plans to federalize 300 Illinois National Guard members, according to a statement from Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday.
Pritzker said the Department of War gave him an ultimatum, telling him to call up the troops himself.
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“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War issued an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said, in part. He stated that the administration aims to federalize hundreds of National Guard troops “in the coming hours.”
This comes after federal agents and protesters clashed at the west suburban Broadview Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Friday morning.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Office reported that at least five individuals were arrested in connection with those clashes. Charges include resisting, obstruction, and aggravated battery against a police officer.
This confrontation followed the appearance of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who were seen on the ICE facility’s roof just before 8 a.m. They were joined by several armed agents, cameras, and a production crew.
On Friday night, Cook County sheriff’s officers, equipped with helmets and batons, prevented demonstrators from blocking the street during a tense standoff, concluding a day of protests.
Previously, President Donald Trump had threatened to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to tackle crime, even suggesting earlier this week that the city could serve as a military training ground.
On Monday, Pritzker said he learned that DHS is requesting that 100 military personnel be sent to Illinois to protect ICE agents.
ABC7 has reached out to the Trump administration for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Full statement from Pritzker:
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.
In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard. They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.
This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents. Yesterday, Kristi Noem’s and Greg Bovino’s masked agents threw chemical agents near an elementary school, arrested elected officials exercising their First Amendment rights, and raided a Wal-Mart. None of it was in pursuit of justice, but all of it was in pursuit of social media videos.
I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois. State, county, and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their connotational rights. I will not call up our National Guard to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people.
In Illinois, we will do everything within our power to look out for our neighbors, uphold the Constitution, and defend the rule of law.”
Statement from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton:
“Donald Trump intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and deploy them to Chicago without the consent of Governor Pritzker or our administration. These are Illinoisans who will be ripped away from their families to serve in Trump’s political stunt. We have warned that this has been their plan all along, and now it’s here.
Our city is not a sandbox for Donald Trump to play dictator. It’s intentional cruelty that will devastate families and scar our communities.
Let me be clear: the only emergency in Chicago is the chaos that Donald Trump and his administration are deliberately fueling in our streets. Journalists targeted and shot at, peaceful residents dragged from their homes, women and children zip-tied in the streets, families torn apart and stuffed into U-Hauls. This is unacceptable, reprehensible, and not what we stand for in Illinois.
“I have spent my career working to make communities safer and lead on public safety for our administration. Not a single violence-prevention expert I have worked with has ever said the answer is to flood our neighborhoods with federal troops. This move will only serve to spread fear, escalate conflict, and undermine the trust that keeps communities safe.
To the people of Illinois: know that Governor Pritzker and I will use every tool at our disposal to defend our city, protect our residents, and resist this reckless, authoritarian power grab.”
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