Preparing for an expected surge of federal immigration enforcement that could begin any day, Gov. JB Pritzker and other leaders on Thursday underscored their calls for peaceful protests amid President Donald Trump’s wavering threats to send military personnel to Chicago under the guise of combating violent crime.
A day after Trump suggested he instead might deploy the National Guard to New Orleans and Vice President JD Vance said there were “no immediate plans” to send military forces to Chicago, Pritzker, who has pushed back repeatedly on the president’s threats, said that while he’d “love to believe” troops aren’t headed to the city, he wouldn’t take the White House at its word.
“Part of their kind of nefarious plan is begin with (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents), cause mayhem on the ground, and by doing that say that there’s a need for military troops on the ground to protect ICE,” Pritzker said, speaking to reporters outside an elementary school in Berwyn, a predominantly Latino near-west suburb, where he met with students and staff members to “learn more about the impact of pending federal actions on school communities,” according to his office.
“For the people who are going to protest,” Pritzker said, “they’ve got to protest peacefully, not give them any reason to call in National Guard or military troops of other types.”
The Trump administration’s apparent shift in focus from deploying the National Guard to help combat violent crime, which already is decreasing in Chicago, to surging federal immigration agents is the latest twist in a chaotic two-week period punctuated by near-daily verbal skirmishes between the Republican president and Democratic governor, along with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Pritzker, Johnson and other officials in Illinois and Chicago have pushed back fiercely on Trump’s claims about crime in the city, which the president has described as a “hellhole.”
While eight people were killed in gun violence over the Labor Day holiday weekend, homicides, shootings and other violent crimes have shown a marked decline in recent years since spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pritzker’s brief exchange with reporters came shortly after The Washington Post reported the Department of Defense had given its approval for the use of Naval Station Great Lakes in North Chicago as a launching pad for immigration enforcement operations. The Navy base, more than 35 miles north of Chicago, would “serve as a hub in upcoming operations overseen by the Department of Homeland Security,” the Post reported, citing two unnamed defense officials.
The Pentagon press office directed a Tribune request for confirmation to Homeland Security, which did not respond to requests for comment.
Federal officials on Wednesday briefed local law enforcement near the naval base on plans for the arrival of about 300 ICE agents as well as the potential deployment of National Guard troops, the Tribune and Lake County News-Sun reported.
There has been “nothing official in communication with the state,” Pritzker said. But the governor reiterated his understanding that federal agents would be “fully assembled” by Friday, with the anticipated immigration crackdown set to begin “early on Saturday morning,” though he added it was “possible, I suppose, that they might begin” Friday.
Previously, Pritzker raised the possibility that immigration raids would be timed to coincide with upcoming celebrations marking Mexican Independence Day. Those festivities include a parade Saturday in the heavily Latino neighborhood of Pilsen.
“I’m telling people to know your rights, be extra careful, and know that there is the possibility that ICE will be on the ground and causing some mayhem,” Pritzker said. “Don’t play into their hand. And if you have the opportunity, please protest. Pull out your phone, video everything that they’re doing, whether it’s an iPhone or an Android, whatever you’ve got, and make sure that the media sees it.”
Johnson, speaking at a separate event Thursday in Archer Heights neighborhood on the Southwest Side, called for Mexican Independence Day festivities in Chicago to go on as planned, saying that one of the Trump administration’s goals is to instill fear in immigrant communities. Other events, including the two-day El Grito Chicago festival, have been postponed.
“Why would I ask you to stay home?” Johnson said. “Why would we allow someone who is auditioning to become a dictator of democracy to intimidate the soul of America, the city of Chicago? We should celebrate. I’m going to celebrate.”
At the same time, “unsanctioned activities, we don’t support those,” the mayor said, in reference to the city’s unofficial tradition of car caravans journeying to the Loop throughout Mexican Independence Day weekend, causing gridlock and sometimes mayhem later at night.
At Daley Plaza, in the heart of downtown across from City Hall, a small group of current and former elected officials gathered with members of the Latino Leadership Council to warn any potential Mexican Independence Day revelers or those protesting the upcoming federal operation to “remain peaceful, united and informed,” encouraging them to carry American flags alongside Mexican ones.
Planners of some events celebrating Mexican Independence Day, which is Sept.16, are expecting to be targeted by federal immigration enforcement.
“Donald Trump is setting a trap. Don’t take the bait,” said former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez, arguing the Trump administration was looking for ways to prove Chicago was unlawful. “Peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience is our heritage. …They are already training for riots. What riots? The riots that they want to instigate.”
“Lift your voice, but not your hand. Lift your banner, but not a rock,” Gutiérrez continued. “As a matter of fact, bring cold water, bring sandwiches, bring peace and harmony to the National Guard (member) that decides to follow this illegal order and tell them that you care for them.”
He and others argued that event attendees should carry the flags of their homeland and the American flag together. The “American flag represents us,” said Gutiérrez, who is Puerto Rican. “It’s our flag too.”
Illinois state Sen. Karina Villa encouraged residents without Mexican heritage to show up to parades “as our allies, as our friends and as our neighbors.”
“Cheer us on the sidelines, to stand as we have stood with you and we have stood for you,” fighting for LGBTQ and abortion rights, said Villa, a West Chicago Democrat.
As Chicago braced for the incursion, a Chicago police district commander has instructed officers that if they become aware of any calls for service related to ICE immigration enforcement, they must inform the commander and ensure a response from a lieutenant or a higher-ranking Chicago Police Department official.
“Please be advised that at no time will ICE officers be given express permission to use our conference room, community room, or parking lot spaces,” the district commander wrote in an email obtained by the Tribune.
Trump has described the current National Guard deployment in Washington, D.C., as a blueprint for similar operations in other cities, such as Chicago. But the District of Columbia on Thursday sued Trump in federal court in Washington, alleging his ongoing deployment of more than 2,000 National Guard troops there is illegal and is causing “serious and irreparable harm” to the city.
“No American jurisdiction should be involuntarily subjected to military occupation,” said the 55-page lawsuit, which also named Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Army as defendants.
The suit alleged the deployment of National Guard troops to police city streets without consent “infringes on its sovereignty and right to self-governance” and risks inflaming tensions and fueling distrust toward local law enforcement.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement the lawsuit was “nothing more than another attempt — at the detriment of D.C. residents and visitors — to undermine the President’s highly successful operations to stop violent crime in D.C.”
The litigation in Washington was filed two days after a federal judge in California ruled the Trump administration exceeded its authority by sending National Guard troops and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles over the summer to aid in law enforcement activities.
While Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has said repeatedly there is no preemptive legal action his office could take to stop a deployment, Pritzker on Thursday said the state would “immediately go to court” if troops were sent to Chicago.
“That’s going to be our first line of defense is getting a court to issue a (temporary restraining order) or other injunction against that activity,” Pritzker said.
Despite calls from some veterans and other advocates for Pritzker to use his authority over the Illinois National Guard to order members in the state not to comply if called to duty, the governor said he doesn’t have the power to issue such an order.
“State law does not override federal law,” Pritzker said. “So we have to abide by the law. We do that in the state of Illinois, we abide by the law. We abide by state law and federal law, unlike the president of the United States, who often acts in unconstitutional fashion.”
Responding to a question about a fundraising email in which the Trump campaign solicited contributions of $15 or more to “join the MAGA Blitz and say: LIBERATE CHICAGO – SAVE AMERICA – STAND WITH TRUMP!” Pritzker said he doesn’t “know why anybody would fund an unconstitutional action or have a positive reaction to the idea of the president thwarting the law of the United States.”
“I know that there are some supporters of his who act in a cultlike fashion in supporting everything that he does,” Pritzker said. “But let’s remember, everybody, that the future of our democracy, the future of America, is on the line and supporting the activity of thwarting the U.S. Constitution is antithetical to all of that.”
Chicago Tribune’s Jeremy Gorner contributed.
