Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called out Donald Trump for planning what he described “an invasion with U.S. troops” in Chicago, while laying out what he believes are the president’s true motivations for targeting the Windy City.
In an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” broadcast on Sunday, Pritzker warned the state would respond if Trump goes ahead with his Chicago crime crackdown, which could reportedly happen as soon as this week.
“We hope that they don’t send any troops along with ICE, and if they do, they’ll be in court pretty quickly, because that is illegal,” he said.
Officials told The Washington Post last month that the administration has long been mulling a “military intervention” in Chicago as well as an expanded action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to identify undocumented migrants in the city.
Trump has repeatedly described crime in Chicago as “TOTALLY OUT OF CONTROL” and, over the weekend, called Pritzker “weak and pathetic,” warning that “he better straighten [crime] out, FAST, or we’re coming!”
Pritzker has rejected Trump’s claims that there is a crime emergency in the city, ripping the president for considering deploying the National Guard in the country’s third most populous city, adding that the administration has not communicated any of its plans to the state.
“Well, it’s an invasion with U.S. troops, if they, in fact, do that,” he said of the potential troop deployment.
The Democratic governor added that the president is using the pretext of fighting crime to pursue other goals of his.
“He’d like to stop the elections in 2026 or, frankly, take control of those elections,” Pritzker told CBS’s Ed O’Keefe. “He’ll just claim that there’s some problem with an election, and then he’s got troops on the ground that can take control if, in fact, he’s allowed to do this.”
Prior to setting his sights on Chicago, Trump last month declared a “crime emergency” in Washington, D.C., following the attack of an administration staffer — despite statistics showing crime has actually fallen in the past year — deploying National Guard troops and seizing control of the capital’s police force to deal with crime there.
The president previously federalized the California National Guard and sent troops into Los Angeles following protests against immigration enforcement. California sued over the move, and that case is ongoing.
Asked if he believes Trump is an authoritarian leader, Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, did not offer a direct answer, but said he is deeply worried about the state of the country under the president’s direction.
“I built a Holocaust Museum. I know what the history was of a constitutional republic being overturned, after an election, in 53 days. And I’m very, very concerned,” Pritzker said. “The playbook is the same. It’s thwart the media, it’s create mayhem that requires military interdiction. These are things that happen throughout history, and Donald Trump is just following that playbook.”