Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced Sunday that President Trump has ordered hundreds of Texas National Guard troops to be deployed to Illinois and other states, calling it “Trump’s invasion.”
Pritzker said Sunday evening that President Donald Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon and other locations within the United States.
“No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate. We must now start calling this what it is: Trump’s Invasion,” Pritzker said in a statement.
“It started with federal agents, it will soon include deploying federalized members of the Illinois National Guard against our wishes, and it will now involve sending in another state’s military troops,” Pritzker said.
The governor said he calls on Texas Governor Greg Abbott to immediately withdraw any support for the decision and refuse to coordinate.
“There is no reason a President should send military troops into a sovereign state without their knowledge, consent, or cooperation. The brave men and women who serve in our national guards must not be used as political props. This is a moment where every American must speak up and help stop this madness,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker announced on Saturday that he was given an ultimateum by President Donald Trump, who said he would federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard if Pritzker does not call them up himself.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
The news comes on the heels of a press conference Monday afternoon in Chicago, where Pritzker announced the Illinois National Guard received a report that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sent a memo to the U.S. Department of War seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois.
DHS said in the memo that they need the troops to protect ICE agents and facilities, Pritzker said.
“They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety,” Pritzker said. “For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.”
“What I have been warning of is now being realized,” Pritzker said Monday, adding that none of what Trump is doing is making Illinois safer.
The ultimatum comes as ICE and Border Patrol were seen patrolling around downtown Chicago at the end of September.
The agents made several arrests as they roamed around the area and stopped people at random, including detaining a family.
Pritzker called the federal agencies’ actions “authoritarian” and said 60% of the ICE arrests have consisted of those who do not have criminal records.
Trump previously said he planned to send the National Guard to Chicago, calling it a “death trap.”
“So I’m going to go to Chicago early, against Pritzker, Pritzker is nothing,” Trump said. “If Pritzker was smart, he’d say ‘please come in.'”
Pritzker said federal agents “wreaked havoc” last week in Broadview, which is where the ICE processing facility is located. The facility is experiencing ongoing protests from community members.
“People nonviolently holding signs and chanting against brutality, expressing their First Amendment rights, have regularly been attacked with chemical agents like tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and flash bangs,” Pritzker said, adding that agents also unholstered their guns and pointed them at protesters.
Pritzker said there are “more questions than answers” after ICE agents opened fire and fatally shot a man they were trying to arrest during a traffic stop in Franklin Park last week.
“This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents,” Pritzker said Saturday. “Kristi Noem’s and Greg Bovino’s masked agents threw chemical agents near an elementary school, arrested elected officials exercising their First Amendment rights, and raided a Walmart. None of it was in pursuit of justice, but all of it was in pursuit of social media videos.”
ICE said Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area is “already successfully removing the worst of the worst—including pedophiles, rapists, and other violent thugs.”
U.S. Border Patrol is also running a simultaneous “Operation At Large” in Chicago to target illegal immigrants.
Andrew S. Boutros, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said Saturday that his office “will enforce all federal criminal laws and protect our federal employees and property.”
“Assistant U.S. Attorneys will staff the FBI-led command post on a daily basis to monitor real-time developments and take swift action as needed when criminal offenders assault, obstruct, or impede law enforcement personnel or destroy federal property,” Boutros said.
“During this surge, we have filed federal charges against more than 12 individuals and continue to review cases for additional criminal charges. The people of Chicago deserve safe streets and peaceful neighborhoods, and we will deliver justice on their behalf,” Boutros said.
In addition, Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; Matthew J. Scarpino, Special Agent-in-Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Chicago; Russell Hott, Field Office Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations in Chicago; and other federal law enforcement officials said in a combined statement, “We speak with one voice when we say that we expect any protest or assembly in Chicago to remain peaceful. There is no place for violence against law enforcement officers, obstruction of justice, or destruction of federal property. Any criminal actions taken against the brave men and women in uniform will be met with swift criminal prosecution. Our agencies will continue to work closely with each other to execute federal law fully and completely.”