Crime & Law
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on the National Guard, Cash Bail and Civil Commitments
Illinois officials said there’s been no communication from the Trump administration following reports that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security asked a local naval base to house federal immigration agents.
In an emailed statement to WTTW News, Naval Station Great Lakes in suburban North Chicago confirmed that it’s been “approached by DHS regarding a potential request to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. At this time, no decisions have been made. The request involves limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS.” The base has not, however, received an official request to support the National Guard.
Gov. JB Pritzker said his office hasn’t received any calls from the White House or federal officials regarding the matter.
This development follows President Donald Trump’s threats to send National Guard troops to Chicago to address crime, calling the city “a killing field” despite violent crime being on a downward trend.
At a news conference this week Pritzker said: “This is not about fighting crime. 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.”
The National Guard is currently deployed in Washington, D.C., which the federal government has jurisdiction over. The Trump administration, however, already faces legal challenges in California because of the June military deployment in Los Angeles. Pritzker told the president that he’ll see him in court if he does the same in Chicago.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul weighed in on the latest headlines in an interview with WTTW News’ “Chicago Tonight” on Wednesday.
On the National Guard’s deployment:
“There’s a framework through the Posse Comitatus Act as to when the president can federalize the National Guard,” Raoul said. “There either has to be a foreign invasion, rebellion from within or inability to enforce a federal law because of inadequate resources through regular means. None of those circumstances exist in regards to dealing with crime in Chicago.
“We have continuous great work in collaboration with federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI, the DEA, ATF, Secret Service, HSI, and if the president wanted to contribute to fighting crime in Chicago, he could enhance those already-existing collaborations between local, state and federal law enforcement with more resources and stop cutting resources from police departments, from victim services and from community violence interruption.
“The National Guard is not trained in crime fighting.We have a tremendous partnership with the ATF and the tremendous ATF special agent in charge, and they have a crime gun intelligence center. They’ve been partnering with my office and with the Chicago Police Department. Those are collaborations that depend upon constant communication and a one-team concept, and they’re ongoing collaborations. So, the National Guard would not help. They’re not trained. Quite frankly, they wouldn’t know what they would need to be doing.”
On DHS using Naval Station Great Lakes:
“It’s interesting because from what I understand in California and in D.C., they sent guardsmen into these cities without adequate preparation for their well-being,” Raoul said. “There were stories of guardsmen in L.A. who didn’t have adequate places to sleep, to rest, to eat. These people are not being appropriately treated — people who have lent themselves to service to our country. And so, I don’t know what else to say about the bad planning from our president and the administration just to create a performative show of force.”
On possible Trust Act violations:
Adams County Sheriff Tony Grootens said he intends to aid DHS in its deportation efforts. WTTW News obtained records showing that the county transferred at least two men into ICE custody.
Raoul said: “I’m not going to say too much about that particular case because we have to examine all the specifics. There are sheriffs and individuals who can proclaim a lot. I looked at some of the statements that (Grootens) made that were represented in various media reports. So clearly, the law of the state of Illinois is that state and local law enforcement resources are not supposed to be used for immigration enforcement. Sheriffs are sworn officers that are supposed to abide by the law, and so, that’s all I will say about that right now.”
On the elimination of cashless bail:
On Monday, Trump signed an executive order called “Take Steps to End Cashless Bail to Protect Americans,” which seeks to block federal funding to states that eliminated cash bail. Exactly what kind of federal funding is unknown.
Illinois eliminated cash bail in 2023 under the Pretrial Fairness Act.
Raoul said: “I would turn him (Trump) to the federal court system that largely doesn’t rely upon cash bail. They rely upon assessing whether an individual is a risk to public safety or a flight risk. That’s the system that we have right now without cash bail.
“Whether or not somebody can afford to post bond is not determinative of whether they are a risk to public safety. Somebody can have access to a lot of money and be a risk to public safety. And so the notion that cash bail keeps people safe is a misplaced notion. We should be doing risk assessment, assessing whether somebody is a risk to public safety or whether they’re a flight risk, regardless of what they can afford.”
On civil commitment and the executive order to address homelessness:
“There’s a Supreme Court decision in Olmstead from 1999 that sets the framework of making sure that people with disabilities are protected from being unfairly committed,” Raoul said. “And so, the spirit of the order seems to be violative of that. What specifically they may do in follow up to that, we’d have to evaluate on a case-by-case basis and ensure individuals who would have their rights violated would have a right to action.”
