Donald Trump news: Chicago the next city on presidential military hit list
The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the US military to Chicago as President Donald Trump says he is cracking down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration.
The Defense Department planning, in the works for weeks, involves several options, including mobilising at least a few thousand members of the National Guard as soon as September, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing officials familiar with the matter.
“Chicago is a mess,” Trump told reporters on Friday, deriding its mayor as he continued his attacks on cities run by Democratic politicians.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“And we’ll straighten that one out probably next.”
The Pentagon declined to comment late on Saturday
“We won’t speculate on further operations. The department is a planning organization and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the Post report.
JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, which includes Chicago, said in a statement the state had received no outreach from the federal government on whether it needed assistance. He said there was no emergency warranting a National Guard or other military deployment.
“Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” Pritzker said.
A spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Friday Johnson said the city had grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops.
“The problem with the President’s approach is that it is unco-ordinated, uncalled for and unsound,” the mayor said, adding that over the past year, homicides in Chicago had fallen by more than 30 per cent, robberies by 35 per cent and shootings by almost 40 per cent.
At Trump’s request last weekend, the Republican governors of three states said they were sending hundreds of National Guard troops hundreds of miles to Washington, DC.
The president has portrayed the nation’s capital as a city awash in crime, although Justice Department data shows violent crime hit a 30-year low last year in Washington, a self-governing federal district under the jurisdiction of Congress.
In June, Trump ordered 700 Marines and 4000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, during protests over mass immigration raids by federal officials.
