CHICAGO — The Trump administration requested assistance from a military base near Chicago for immigration operations, according to a statement from the base on Thursday. This request provides insight into what a heightened law enforcement crackdown might entail in America’s third-largest city.
The Department of Homeland Security reached out to Naval Station Great Lakes for “limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs for their operations,” explained Matt Mogle, a spokesperson for the base, which is located 35 miles north of Chicago.
This request followed the administration’s earlier deployment of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., targeting crime, immigration, and homelessness, and similar measures in Los Angeles two months prior.
Details about the administration’s plans for Chicago remain scarce.
Mogle noted that no official decision has been made regarding this request, and the base hasn’t received a formal request to support a National Guard deployment yet. The Chicago Sun-Times was the first to report on the Navy base’s involvement.
Sources told ABC7 that City Council members were going to briefed on Thursday by city officials on a possible National Guard deployment to Chicago.
Leaders in Chicago’s Black community will speak on Thursday at Daley Plaza about the potential plan.
Chicago Mayor Johnson and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker have opposed the move, arguing that crime rates in Chicago have decreased and that the city neither wants nor needs military assistance. They are preparing to take legal action.
Pritzker, who may consider a 2028 Democratic presidential bid, has been highlighting areas in the city where crime has declined. He expressed to The Associated Press that the presence of troops could potentially exacerbate the situation.
“What he’s trying to do is try to inflame something that will cause a problem that he can then point at,” the two-term governor said, referring to President Donald Trump.
Trump has often singled out Chicago, likening it to a war zone and “hellhole.” Chicago’s long-held status as a so-called sanctuary city has irked the Trump administration, which used Chicago to kick off a nationwide crackdown on immigration weeks after Trump’s second inauguration.
Pritzker and Trump have traded barbs over the issue for days.
“The people are desperate for me to STOP THE CRIME, something the Democrats aren’t capable of doing,” Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social network.
Violent crime in the city has dropped significantly in recent years, but it remains a persistent problem.
In 2024, the city reported 573 homicides, the most of any U.S. city that year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. At the same time, violent crime dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. In the first six months of 2025, total violent crime dropped by over 22% when compared with the same time period last year.
O’Connor reported from Springfield, Illinois.
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