Latino leaders and immigrant rights groups in Chicago are joining the debate over whether the National Guard should be sent to the city.
Members of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, the Resurrection Project, the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, and other immigrant rights activists stood together at Federal Plaza, saying deploying troops on city streets would intimidate residents and create fear, not safety.
“Chicago is going to be clear to this president, who tries to identify ways to be able to silence us, to silence dissent. But the attacks on Chicago and Illinois are not about safety and security, we know that. They’re about trying to terrorize the resistance,” U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) said.
President Trump has threatened to send National Guard troops to Chicago to fight crime, insisting “I have the right to do anything I want,” even though legal experts and a former Illinois National Guard general have said federal troops can’t legally act as law enforcement.
“He doesn’t have the authority under the law to send in the guard, a federalized guard, to perform law enforcement duty,” said Retired U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Richard Hayes, the former adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard.
Ramirez, Illinois state lawmakers, and immigrant rights advocates said the president’s plan is less about crime, and more about control.
“Trump and his loyalists are willing to weaponize the government against political opposition and communities, because we resist these unconstitutional agendas. Deploying troops in a violent spectacle undermines the rule of law, the separation of powers, and state sovereignty,” Ramirez said.
The White House has yet to say if or when the president will deploy any troops in Chicago as part of his plan to crack down on crime, similar to his approach in Washington, D.C. Overnight, President Trump said on Truth Social that he is working with Republicans on a new “comprehensive crime bill.”
Meantime, former mayoral candidate Dr. Willie Wilson and Illinois state Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) have thrown their support behind deploying the National Guard in Chicago.
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