Pritzker says feds seeking Chicago troop deployment. ‘What I have been warning of is now being realized’

Gov. JB Pritzker speaks alongside elected officials, religious leaders and immigration advocates at a news conference on Sept. 29, 2025. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Andrew Adams)

The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to send 100 military troops to Chicago, according to Gov. JB Pritzker, who assailed the move as the Trump administration’s latest — yet not unforeseen — push to consolidate power.

“What he plans to do with that power now or during the 2026 elections should worry all of us,” Pritzker said at a Monday afternoon news conference, saying, “You cannot call this anything except an attack on the Constitution of the United States.”

In the days leading up to the news conference, armed Customs and Border Patrol officers paraded through the streets of Chicago arresting people and shot chemical projectiles at protesters in Broadview, including allegedly at a TV news reporter’s car. As of Monday, the Chicago Tribune reported that federal prosecutors had charged five people in relation to recent protests, including two who were apparently armed, according to federal authorities.

The Tribune reported that federal Judge Gabriel Fuentes noted there has been “a tendency for ICE to be very aggressive,” in response to the Broadview protests, and it was “not a surprise that there was a confrontation.”

“All of this has been aimed at causing chaos and mayhem in the hopes of creating a pretext to deploy military troops against Chicago and Broadview and other suburbs, just as the president is doing right now in Oregon,” Pritzker said.

‘What I have been warning of’

Pritzker has said for weeks that the Trump administration would use any skirmish resulting from its Chicago-area immigration crackdown as a “pretext” for a military deployment.

“What I have been warning of is now being realized,” he said.

Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard learned that the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Department of War, formerly the Department of Defense, seeking 100 troops. He said the stated reason was to protect ICE facilities and other DHS agents working in Illinois. He said Oregon’s National Guard received a similar notice on Sunday.

“The mobilization of the military isn’t just an ineffective strategy to address crime. It is illegal,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.

Raoul said Monday’s memo is not enough for the state to file a lawsuit to block the military deployment, but the Trump administration “should expect a legal challenge here.” He pointed to a recent ruling that declared a military deployment to Los Angeles earlier this year was illegal.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Raoul urged protesters to stay peaceful and said it is illegal to block federal agents from doing their jobs, including trying to block vehicles.

“I urge Illinoisans, don’t take the bait,” Raoul said. “There is no emergency in Chicago. Don’t help him create one. Exercise your First Amendment rights, but do so peacefully, without violence or destruction of property.”

Pritzker urged Illinoisans to broadcast ICE’s actions.

“Get out your cell phones, record and narrate what you see. Put it on social media peacefully,” he said. “Ask for badge numbers and identification. Speak up for your neighbors. We need to let the world know that this is happening and that we won’t stand for it.”

Business leaders, immigration rights advocates, faith leaders and other community advocates joined state leaders to condemn the Trump administration’s actions.

“My hope is that the unanimity, the you know, the show of a broad swath of the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, standing against what the federal government is attempting to do here will once again deter them from sending military troops,” he said.

Border Patrol’s downtown march

On Sunday’s Border Patrol march through downtown, reporters and passersby reported witnessing several arrests while angry residents confronted the agents.

Pictures from the scene showed a young girl in tears, holding her baby doll while she and what appeared to be her parents were escorted by masked, armed and camouflage-clad agents on Michigan Avenue.

“They’re not targeting violent criminals or gang members. They’re arresting tamale vendors and delivery men and shaking down families,” Pritzker said. “Donald Trump and Kristi Noem and Tom Homan said they were targeting the worst of the worst criminals. They lied, and they continue to lie. Sixty percent of the individuals that ICE has taken in Illinois this year have no criminal convictions of any kind.”

Noem is the DHS secretary, and Homan is the Trump-appointed border czar known for his hardline stance on immigration enforcement.

U.S. Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino told WBEZ on Sunday that agents considered several factors when making arrests, including “the particular characteristics of an individual, how they look.”

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned a lower court order that would have prevented federal agents from stopping a person based on their race, language or other characteristics. While it wasn’t the final decision on the case, it at least temporarily allowed tactics Bovino allegedly used during CBP’s Los Angeles campaign.

The Chicago Sun-Times also reported on a verbal altercation between Bovino and a protestor who was videotaping the federal agents’ march through Chicago. The newspaper reported Bovino approached the bystander and asked his citizenship status.

After the pair briefly argued about whether the man must provide the information, he moved to a different location to continue to film the agents exploits, according to the newspaper.

Violence at protests

An ICE detention center in west suburban Broadview continued to be a highly visible front for the tensions between ICE and the Chicago area over the weekend. The several tense exchanges provided social media fodder for the Trump administration.

“Wave your signs, chant your slogans, hurl your verbal insults, and exercise your First Amendment rights – we’ll protect that,” Bovino said in one of many X posts on Monday. “Lay a finger on our agents, impede our mission, endanger those in our custody and we have a front row seat for you to our justice system.”

But members of the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, which observed the protests, said in a statement, “officers went after people who were simply gathered to support the active protesters.”

On Sunday, a CBS Chicago reporter said an ICE agent shot a pepper ball at her car as she drove by the scene with the window open.  She said there were no protests happening at the facility at the time, CBS reported.

“In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists and protesters when unprovoked, what would we call it?” Pritzker asked. “If federal agents march down busy streets, harassing civilians and demanding their papers, what would we say? I don’t think we’d have any trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism.”

The Broadview Police Department launched a criminal investigation into the incident involving the CBS reporter, and the Illinois State Police said in a statement the agency is supporting the police department.

“ISP has reached out to the Broadview Police Department to offer appropriate law enforcement assistance related to recent events and is providing general support, including traffic assistance, in response the Broadview Police Department’s request around maintaining public safety during planned protests,” spokesperson Melaney Arnold said.

Arnold said ISP is always on alert for large protests and shares intelligence with “all levels” of law enforcement.

An independent journalist also reported being arrested Saturday night and later was released Sunday morning.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. 

Pritzker says feds seeking Chicago troop deployment. ‘What I have been warning of is now being realized’ by Ben Szalinski