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“The Pentagon has for weeks been planning a military deployment to Chicago as President Donald Trump says he wants to crack down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration, in a model that could later be used in other major cities, officials familiar with the matter said.” Washington Post
“‘We can go anywhere on less than 24 hours' notice,’ Trump said when asked on Monday whether the Pentagon was preparing for deployment to Chicago. ‘They need help. We may wait. We may or may not, we may just go in and do it, which is probably what we should do,’ Trump told reporters…
“Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said his state had made no request for federal intervention and the Illinois attorney general said legal action would be taken to prevent a federal deployment in Chicago. ‘This is about Donald Trump searching for any justification to deploy the military in a blue city, in a blue state, to try to intimidate his political rivals,’ said Pritzker.” Reuters
The left opposes deploying troops to Chicago, arguing that crime is falling.
“Crime in Chicago, like crime in nearly every major city, is down. Through the first half of 2025, the homicide rate is down 33 percent. There were 289 murders in the first half of 2024, and 192 in the first half of this year. Yes, 192 is still 192 dead people. No one celebrates that. But a 33 percent decrease? That is real, too—and really good. Overall crime complaints are down 14 percent as well…
“Yes, Washington went a week without a homicide since Trump’s National Guard deployment. Good. Great, even. But he talked about that as if it had never happened before. ‘That’s the first time in anybody’s memory that you haven’t had a murder in a week,’ he said. Well, that’s true—for people whose memories go back only to mid-May. If your memory goes back any further than that—like all the way back to January 1, say—then you might recall that this is the fifth week this year without a homicide.”
Michael Tomasky, New Republic
“Pritzker didn’t dismiss concerns about crime in the city. ‘Not one person here today will claim we have solved all crime in Chicago, nor can that be said of any major American metro area,’ he said. Instead, the governor turned those concerns on Trump, listing the ways the president and his fellow Republicans have made Chicago less safe for its residents…
“[He said] ‘If Donald Trump was actually serious about fighting crime in cities like Chicago, he, along with his congressional Republicans, would not be cutting over $800 million in public safety and crime prevention grants nationally, including cutting $158 million in funding to Illinois’… Pritzker put it succinctly: ‘Trump is defunding the police.’”
Charlie Sykes, MSNBC
“The National Guard is trained primarily for military operations and disaster relief, not for civilian policing. By contrast, Chicago police officers undergo six months of intensive training before gaining years of valuable experience walking the beat. Throwing guardsmen into law enforcement roles sets them up for failure by diverting them from the missions they are best equipped to achieve…
“There is also scant legal authority for Trump’s plan. The National Guard has a dual mission, serving state and federal roles. While governors primarily command their state’s guard to address emergencies within their borders, federal law allows the president to activate them for federal missions. However, there is no authority to federalize a state’s guard to reduce violent crime, which is a state and local issue…
“In fact, the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of the military for domestic law enforcement… The act has narrow exceptions, most notably the Insurrection Act of 1807, which permits the president to use the military or federalize the National Guard in limited circumstances. But interpreting the Insurrection Act to apply to local crime would pervert the law and violate state sovereignty principles that date to our nation’s founding.”
Andrew Warren, MSNBC
The right generally supports deploying troops to Chicago, arguing that crime is too high.
The right generally supports deploying troops to Chicago, arguing that crime is too high.
“Between the beginning of 2016 and the end of 2020, 3,276 people were murdered in Chicago. Last year, for the first time in a long while, there were fewer than 600 homicides in the city, still enough to allow it to reign for the 13th year as the murder capital of the U.S. So far this year, there have been only 266 murders. Nowhere but in Chicago would one think to place the word ‘only’ before that many murders…
“Chicago politicians seem to view an epidemic of random violence, as often as not striking the innocent, as preferable to the infusion of National Guard troops into the city. So I say, Donald, old boy, bring on the troops, foot soldiers, cavalry, artillery, and anything else you’ve got short of missiles and nuclear weapons. The time for the killing to end has long passed.”
Joseph Epstein, Wall Street Journal
“Why would the leaders of high-crime cities like Washington and Chicago object to the president helping to make their streets safer? They are panicked that Trump will succeed, exposing them as the inept, corrupt leaders they truly are…
“During the last [Chicago] mayoral race in 2023, a poll showed that two-thirds of the city’s residents didn’t feel safe from crime. Asked to rank which issues were most important in choosing the next mayor, 44% said crime and public safety — by far the top issue. The economy and jobs came in at just 12%. Continuing high crime is one reason polls show Johnson has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the United States, at 26%…
“Sending in federal troops makes [cities] safer, and it isn’t only President Trump who has shown that to be true. In March 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul deployed 750 National Guardsmen into New York City’s subways to stem a deadly wave of people being pushed in front of trains and other offenses. Subway crime dropped, and Hochul appears to have no plans to remove the soldiers still patrolling the stations and trains. She explained, ‘I think people will tell you… they feel much safer.’ No kidding.”
Liz Peek, Fox News
“The Guard troops obviously aren’t Trump’s equivalent of Mussolini’s squadristi or Hitler’s brownshirts — brawlers and enforcers operating outside the law to crush a political party’s opponents. They are a well-trained, entirely lawful military force that isn’t engaging in street fights or arresting dissidents. The Guard’s role has, mostly, been to stand in front of federal buildings and other public landmarks…
“For Trump, the Guard deployments are an emblem of the restoration of public order. Nothing says the lawman is back in town quite like Humvees parked in front of Union Station and camouflaged federal troops walking the streets. That the troops are overkill makes them even more potent as a symbol — Trump really means it. That they generate a reaction from his opponents is even better, since it prompts them into attacking a token of lawfulness in places that suffer from endemic disorder.”
Rich Lowry, New York Post
