Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said that the Department of Homeland Security requested the National Guard in order to protect immigration agents. Pritzker says the White House is making a power grab.
President Trump orders troops to Portland, Oregon, amid pushback
Trump said on social media he’s sending troops to Portland, Oregon, to protect immigration facilities. Oregon officials call the action illegal and unwarranted.
CHICAGO – Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters on Sept. 29 that he just learned that the Department of Homeland Security requested the National Guard deploy to the region, despite vociferous objections from local leaders.
“What I have been warning of is now being realized,” Pritzker said at a news conference. “This is not about fighting crime, this is about sowing fear and intimidation among Americans . . . This is about consolidating power in Donald Trump’s hands.”
The governor said the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Department of War, formerly the Defense Department, requesting 100 troops from the Illinois National Guard. The troops, Pritzker said, are to be used to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents carrying out Trump’s Chicago-area immigration enforcement crackdown known as Operation Midway Blitz.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell confirmed that the Department of War had received a request for troops. Parnell did not say if the National Guard would be deployed.
“The Department of War has received a request for assistance to safeguard Federal personnel, property, and functions in the state of Illinois,” Parnell told USA TODAY. “Any decisions will be made in accordance with established processes and announced at the appropriate time.”
Trump has been saying since early September that he planned to send the National Guard to Chicago. But the White House has not deployed troops over the objections of local leaders. Illinois officials fear that Trump is using clashes between federal agents and anti-immigration enforcement protesters as justification to deploy soldiers.
The president says the operation is aimed at catching “the worst of the worst” criminals who are immigrants. Illinois leaders say the Republican president’s goal is to take control of the heavily Democratic region.
Illinois officials did not say when exactly National Guard members would deploy.
Pritzker said the memo from Homeland Security to the War Department was the same avenue taken to deploy troops to Portland, Oregon. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said he was prepared to file a lawsuit against the White House if troops did deploy.
In addition to Pritzker and Raoul, other local leaders at the Sept. 29 news conference included Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle and Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson, whose village outside Chicago has become a hotbed of immigration enforcement and protest.
ICE clashes with Chicagoans heat up
The expected National Guard deployment comes about three weeks into the launch of Operation Midway Blitz.
Department of Homeland Security officials said over 700 immigrants have been detained in connection with the operation. The federal immigration enforcement crackdown reflects a significant change of pace for the longtime sanctuary city of Chicago and surrounding areas.
Research compiled by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research group that tracks immigration enforcement data, shows that over 6,000 detainees have gone through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in the region, located in the Chicago suburb of Broadview.
But the crackdown has sparked nearly around-the-clock protests at the immigration enforcement facility about 12 miles west of Chicago’s Willis Tower.
Department of Homeland Security officials have called protesters “rioters,” arrested multiple people and charged at least two protesters with assault. Authorities say they brought handguns to the demonstration.
Federal agents have use chemical agents, including pepper spray and tear gas, in plain sight to disperse Chicago protesters blocking immigration enforcement vehicles. Agents on Friday also fired chemical agents at protesters and journalists standing in a road leading up to the immigration enforcement facility located at 1930 Beach Street in Broadview.
“What we’re seeing is our First Amendment rights being eroded by an authoritarian administration determined to diminish dissent,” State Sen. Karina Villa told reporters on Sept. 29. The Illinois state senator’s heavily Latino district has seen significant immigration enforcement activity.
Broadview officials told USA TODAY that the village police department is investigating federal agents for firing crowd control weapons at a news reporter’s vehicle. Homeland Security officials did not respond to repeated requests for comment on the investigation.
Is ICE catching ‘the worst of the worst’?
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials say that the Midway Blitz is necessary to catch criminal immigrants and among the high-profile arrests they tout are people whose criminal history, according to immigration authorities, includes sexual abuse of a child, domestic violence and battery.
But locals say innocent people are being targeted simply based on the color of their skin.
“If you look like me, you are in danger,” said Eréndira Rendon, a native of Mexico who is a prominent immigrant advocate in Chicago. Rendon broke down in tears on Sept. 29 as she read aloud a list of names of people taken by immigration agents. “DHS terrorizes our communities and showcases our pain on social media.”
Research data from the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, shows that in fiscal year 2025, 65% of immigration detainees have no criminal convictions and 93% have no violent convictions.
Among people Chicagoans hold up as examples of innocent people detained are Laura Murillo, a popular South Side tamale vendor who was detained on Sept. 25, and Silverio Villegas González, a Mexican immigrant who was fatally shot by an immigration agent on Sept. 12 after dropping his sons off at school, according to supporters.
“They’re not targeting violent criminals or gang members,” Pritzker said. “They’re targeting tamale vendors.”