The Trump administration border czar confirmed that federal agents are in talks to use a naval base near North Chicago as a hub, amid President Donald Trump’s priority to crackdown on crime.
When asked by reporters Thursday to confirm that Naval Station Great Lakes would be used as a hub for agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Border Czar Tom Homan replied, “There’s discussions about that, yes.”
He was also asked how many ICE agents and National Guard members will use that base as a hub.
“I know, but I’m not going to say. We’re not going to tell you how many resources we’re going to send to the city. We don’t want the bad guy to know what we’re sending. It will be a large contingent,” Homan replied.
Homan confirmed operations will ramp up after Labor Day in Chicago and across the country. He specifically mentioned New York, LA, Portland and Seattle.
“All these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with ICE, where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country — especially those cities — we’re going to address that. We don’t have that problem in Texas and Florida, where all the sheriffs are working with us,” Homan said.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also answered questions Thursday about the potential for guardsmen and federal agents to begin operations in Chicago.
“This is Gov. Pritzker’s legacy. He should put politics aside, he should pick up the phone and call this president who would be more than happy to do right by law-abiding American residents in the city of Chicago, and we hope that he will,” she said.
Pritzker responded to Leavitt’s criticism at a news conference in Shawneetown.
“The Trump administration has not contacted me at all, whatsoever. Nobody in my administration. They’re just looking to invade the city of Chicago, not coordinate with law enforcement, who they ought to be coordinating with. Not coordinating with the state of Illinois, the governor, or the mayor of the city,” he said.
Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday, “Governor Pritzker had 6 murders in Chicago this weekend. 20 people were shot. But he doesn’t want to ask me for help. Can this be possible? The people are desperate for me to STOP THE CRIME, something the Democrats aren’t capable of doing. STAY TUNED!!!”
Pritzker has publicly told the president not to send National Guard troops to Chicago. He told reporters Trump’s crime crackdown is politically motivated, calling him “somebody who believes in attacking people who didn’t vote for him.”
“The President and the press secretary for the president don’t seem to understand that it’s actually Republican states that have the crime problem,” Pritzker said. “Of the 20 states that have the biggest crime problem, 13 of them are red states controlled by Republican governors. Of those 20 states, we’re at the bottom. Why is he choosing that over going after a red state that voted for him, rather than a blue state that didn’t vote for him?”
Nineteen Democratic governors, including Pritzker, released a joint statement Thursday condemning the threats from Trump, calling it “chaotic federal interference.”
“Whether it’s Illinois, Maryland and New York or another state tomorrow, the President’s threats and efforts to deploy a state’s National Guard without the request and consent of that state’s governor is an alarming abuse of power, ineffective, and undermines the mission of our service members,” the Democratic governors said in a statement.