Crime & Law

Trump Administration Planning to Deploy 100 ‘Military Troops’ Troops in Illinois, Pritzker Says

Gov. JB Pritzker said the Illinois National Guard has received word that the Trump administration intends to deploy 100 “military troops” to protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who the governor said have “wreaked havoc” during days of protests at a suburban processing center.

Pritzker on Monday said the Illinois National Guard has informed him that the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War seeking the deployment after ICE agents used chemical munitions and less lethal ammo on protesters outside the agency’s suburban Broadview facility.

“What I have been warning of has now been realized,” Pritzker, who has previously said he believed federal agents would try to provoke a response from local residents in order to justify any military deployment, said at a press conference.

Pritzker added that it remains unclear what troops have been requested or when they could be sent to Illinois.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send the military into Chicago and Illinois in recent months, pointing to shootings and homicide data in claiming a deployment is necessary, even as violent crime levels have dropped significantly since last year.

In a social media post Monday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the Department of Justice “is deploying agents to protect ICE facilities, arrest violent agitators on the spot, and bring the strongest federal charges possible.”

Pritzker said protesters who have been nonviolently holding signs, chanting and expressing their First Amendment rights, have been “regularly attacked” by ICE agents, whom he claimed have promised to unleash a “shitshow” on Broadview.

According to the National Lawyers Guild of Chicago, at least 11 people were taken into custody following continued confrontations between protesters and ICE agents in Broadview Saturday, including one journalist. As of Sunday, at least five of those people remained in custody, the group said, adding that at least 28 people have been arrested at that facility since Sept. 19.

At least two of those people arrested Saturday were carrying “loaded, concealed firearms” according to a social media post from the Chicago branch of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bureau. That office claimed the pair were arrested for assaulting officers and injuring an ATF agent at the Broadview facility.

Federal prosecutors in Chicago on Monday announced five people were arrested and face charges including forcibly assaulting or resisting federal officers engaged in immigration enforcement operations in Broadview.

Broadview police are investigating after an U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement agent allegedly fired a “chemical munition” at a vehicle driven by a CBS Chicago news reporter over the weekend.

Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills confirmed his department has launched “a criminal investigation” into what he said was an “allegedly unprovoked attack on a CBS Chicago TV news reporter’s vehicle” on Sunday.

CBS Chicago reporter Asal Rezaei said in a social media post Sunday that an ICE agent “took a direct shot at my car” in an “absolutely unprovoked” attack.

“There was not one protester in sight,” Rezaei wrote. “I was simply driving by to check the scene out like I have been for weeks, about 50 feet from the entrance.”

Rezaei added that “local authorities along with my news org are taking this very seriously.”

In his statement, Mills said a “chemical munition” was allegedly fired “from the direction” of the ICE detention facility.

“The victim declined medical attention,” he said. “The Broadview Police Department expects the full cooperation of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security into our criminal investigation.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security — which oversees ICE — claimed in a statement that “no member of the media was “‘attacked.’”

“For their safety, we remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots,” the spokesperson said. “We have seen rioters throwing rocks, armed with guns, slashing tires, throwing tear gas cans and other violent acts.”

In a social media post about the incident, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said “the residents of Broadview, our businesses, and our visitors should never be caught in the crossfire of reckless actions by federal agents.”

“The deployment of chemical munitions in our small, majority-Black community is not only unjustified but dangerous,” she wrote, adding that her office is calling for an immediate end to “these hostile and wasteful” tactics. “It puts at risk the lives of our residents, our first responders, and even members of the press who are simply doing their jobs.”

Thompson last week wrote a letter to ICE officials demanding the agency stop “making war on my community.”

The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly described the protests as “riots” and has claimed that it launched “Operation Midway Blitz” earlier this month, people at the facility have “assaulted law enforcement, thrown tear gas cans, slashed tires of cars, blocked the entrance of the building, and trespassed on private property.”

Pritzker said that ICE has detained around 1,500 people in and around Chicago and that approximately 60% of those have no criminal record.

Pritzker's comments also come one day after armed federal agents patrolled Chicago’s downtown streets on Sunday, a new escalation of an immigration enforcement crackdown in the city that followed Trump’s announcement that he will send troops to Portland in the latest examples of creeping federal law enforcement presence in U.S. cities.

Dozens of armed federal agents, in full tactical gear, walked the streets of some of the city’s most prominent tourist and shopping areas. That comes amid a surge of immigration enforcement that began early this month, including repeated conflict at an ICE building in Broadview, west of Chicago, where federal authorities on Friday and Saturday fired pepper balls and tear gas at protesters.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said families who were simply enjoying a sunny day downtown were instead met with “heavily armed federal agents” who were “aiming to strike fear into our communities.”

Johnson said the agents targeted street vendors and construction workers and claimed agents forced a young girl to act as a translator between them and her family members who were being detained.

“These are heartbreaking scenes that have nothing to do with making our city safer,” Johnson said Monday.

Trump said on social media Saturday that he was directing the Department of Defense to “provide all necessary Troops to protect War ravaged Portland.” Trump said the decision was necessary to protect U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities. His announcement was met with pushback from Oregon’s Democratic governor.

“This is not about fighting crime or about public safety. This is about sowing fear and intimidation and division among Americans,” Pritzker said. “With one voice we are telling this unwarranted and unconstitutional occupation by ICE and potentially military troops to get out of Chicago. You are not helping us.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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