Illinois governor says Trump gave him ‘ultimatum’ and is mobilizing 300 National Guard troops as protests erupt
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has revealed that the Trump administration plans to federalize 300 members of the state’s National Guard after the president gave him an “ultimatum.”
Since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has deployed troops to Democratic-led cities across the country: to Los Angeles in June; Washington, D.C. in August; Memphis in September; and Portland this month.
Now, the president is adding Chicago to the list, despite major opposition from Pritzker.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” the Illinois governor said in a statement shared on social media Saturday.
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Pritzker added. “For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.”
“I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois,” he said, noting that he refuses to call up the Illinois National Guard “to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people.”
The Independent has asked the White House for comment.
Trump has threatened to send troops to Chicago since August, when he called the city “a mess.” At the time, Pritzker vocally opposed the move, calling the plans “authoritarian.”
Hours before Pritzker’s announcement, a U.S. citizen was shot in the village of Broadview, a suburb west of Chicago, following a confrontation with Border Patrol agents, Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.
Law enforcement officers were “rammed by vehicles” and “boxed in” by 10 cars. One of the drivers was armed with a semi-automatic weapon, McLaughlin said.
Agents were “forced to deploy their weapons and fired defensive shots” at the armed woman, who later drove herself to the hospital to get care for wounds, the statement added. No officers were injured in the incident.
For days, tensions have flared outside the ICE facility in Broadview, with protesters clashing with federal agents.
Employees working at a business next-door to the facility say they have been hit by pepper balls or tear gas, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Some videos posted to social media captured agents slamming demonstrators to the ground.
Last week, more than 200 rioters “blocked access” to one of the gates in front of the facility while “another 30 have swarmed another gate and are attempting to forcibly and illegally trespass on federal property,” the Department of Homeland Security said.
