Following a violent weekend, several Chicago locals have expressed support for additional police presence if President Donald Trump opts to federalize the city’s police forces.
Trump initially proposed this idea on Friday during an Oval Office press conference, inspired by a similar initiative’s success in Washington, D.C., where no homicides occurred for 12 consecutive days.
“Chicago’s a mess,” Trump said on Friday, adding that it would “be our next one after this,” following the federal intervention in Washington, D.C.
“Chicago’s a killing field right now, and they don’t acknowledge it,” he said on Monday. “And they say, we don’t need him.”
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, Aug. 22, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP Photo)
She’s not the only person in favor of federal intervention.
“This represents a distinctive chance for Illinois and the city of Chicago, and I think political factors are impeding progress,” expressed Aaron Del Mar, the Cook County Republican Party leader, to NBC Chicago. “Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker should simply say ‘thank you.’”
Among the supporters of Trump’s plan is Robert Milan, former First Assistant State’s Attorney of Cook County. He mentioned efforts by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel to flood high-crime areas with additional police and the National Guard. According to NBC Chicago, this strategy temporarily diminished shootings, yet federal funding was not extended to sustain it.
“In those regions, shootings were nonexistent,” he informed the outlet. “In extremely hazardous areas, we monitored gang communications, and they expressed, ‘we must leave, police are omnipresent, we can’t operate.'”
Two toddlers were shot within hours one day in Chicago in May 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Chicago marked another weekend of bloodshed.
Six people were killed, including a 5-year-old boy, and 27 were injured in shootings across the city, according to CBS News.
On Friday night, two men were standing outside when a person approached them on foot, pulled a gun, and shot and killed them, the outlet reported.
On Saturday afternoon, a boy in an apartment was shot in the head, according to CBS. He died shortly thereafter at Comer Children’s Hospital.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Chicago Police Department.
