Chicago Preps for Trump's Looming Militarized 'Invasion'

With some federal agents already at a nearby naval station and fencing erected around the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse overnight, Chicagoans and Illinois' elected officials on Friday continued to prepare for US President Donald Trump's militarized "invasion" of the country's third-largest city.

Trump has threatened to not only send immigration enforcement agents but also deploy the National Guard and even potentially active-duty military, mirroring what he has done in Los Angeles and the District of Columbia.

Anticipating imminent federal action, last Saturday, Democratic Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order targeting what he called Trump's "tyranny," and Gov. JB Pritzker, another Democrat, pledged Thursday that "we're going to immediately go to court if National Guard or other troops are deployed to the city of Chicago."

Trump has sent mixed messages this week. He said Tuesday that "we're going in" to Chicago, but "I didn't say when." The next day, he said the administration was still "making a determination" about the city and may target Louisiana, whose "great governor," Republican Jeff Landry, "wants us to straighten out a very nice section of this country that's become quite, you know, quite tough."

However, the Illinois action seems to be already underway. The New York Times reported Friday that it obtained an internal document which indicates that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials "would arrive at the Naval Station Great Lakes this week and that there would be 30 days of operations in the Chicago area."

Congressman Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Illinois' two Democratic US senators, Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin, visited the naval station on Friday seeking answers from DHS.

"They ended up saying they were unavailable and that they were locking the doors to the building that's being considered, and we wouldn't be able to enter it and see it," Durbin said. "This kind of secrecy shouldn't be part of our government."

Citing unnamed sources familiar with federal plans, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday that "230 agents, at least some of whom work for US Customs and Border Protection, are coming from Los Angeles, where an immigration blitz this summer spurred protests that pushed Trump to call in the National Guard."

Amid fears of operations targeting immigrants, volunteers are patrolling for signs of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, the Chicago newspaper noted Friday. It also highlighted that deploying National Guard troops in the city could cost taxpayers nearly $1.6 million per day, according to the nonpartisan National Priorities Project.

The looming threat of stepped-up ICE action in Chicago is already having an impact: Organizers have canceled a Mexican Independence Day festival planned for September 13-14 in Grant Park, explaining that "it was a painful decision, but holding El Grito Chicago at this time puts the safety of our community at stake—and that's a risk we are unwilling to take."

Community organizers and the Little Village Chamber of Commerce announced Friday that for now, the 54th annual 26th Street Mexican Independence Day Parade is still scheduled for September 14—a decision that was met with cheers from residents, according to WGN. One parade organizer said, "Our existence is our resistance."

The expected federal operation in Chicago has provoked protests. As part of the national "Workers Over Billionaires" marches on Monday, which was Labor Day, Chicagoans carried signs and chanted about their opposition to the deployment of National Guard troops and immigration agents.

On Friday, "demonstrators gathered on overpasses by I-94 in Wilmette and Evanston, holding up signs and flags calling out ICE's bolstered presence in the area," ABC7 reported. Protesters also descended a facility in suburban Broadview, "demonstrating against the planned use of the location as the main processing hub for those detained by ICE as a part of their upcoming operation."

Critics of Trump's attacks on Chicago and other Democrat-led cities have also pushed back against his lies about crime rates and called out his cuts to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

"Why did Trump cut $468 million from ATF's budget in his nasty, signature bill? Why did he cut funding for the agency responsible for getting guns off our streets by 29%? Why did he cut 1,465 positions from an agency that is so critical to reducing gun violence?" Chicago's mayor said Tuesday. "They cut funding from the agency that is actually stopping gun traffickers so that they could increase funding for ICE and Border Patrol."

Although at least eight people were killed and 50 others were wounded in Labor Day weekend shootings, data from the Chicago Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation show that the city is not the "murder capital of the world," as Trump has claimed.

On Friday, the Gun Violence Prevention PAC (G-PAC) of Illinois joined with the national groups Brady, GIFFORDS, and March for Our Lives to call for federal reform and restoration of funding to address shootings in Chicago rather than the deployment of the National Guard.

"Chicago's gun violence problem is directly related to the availability of illegal guns on our streets," said Kathleen Sances, president and CEO of G-PAC. "Illinois has made significant progress in passing commonsense gun laws with the help of GIFFORDS, Brady, and March for Our Lives, and these reforms have helped prevent access to illegal weapons."

"These efforts have contributed to Chicago's reduced crime rates, with the city recently experiencing the fewest summer murders in 60 years," Sances added. "But without meaningful reform at the federal level, guns will continue to cross into our state, and violence will persist. If the White House wants to get serious about violence, it can start by supporting gun safety efforts instead of the gun lobby."