Pritzker to ‘wannabe dictator’ Trump: Don’t send federal troops to Chicago

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called President Donald Trump a “wannabe dictator” in response to the White House’s reported plan to send federal troops into Chicago to quell crime.

On Friday, President Donald Trump said Chicago would be a likely next target of his administration’s efforts to crack down on crime, homelessness, and illegal immigration.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump called Chicago “a mess” and accused Mayor Brandon Johnson of being “grossly incompetent” in efforts to reduce crime.

In Washington, D.C., approximately 2,000 troops were deployed on the street. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, in the first week the White House had control of the city’s police force, property crimes dropped 19% compared to the week before, and violent crime dropped by 17%.

“We want to go from here to other places. But I was, I was telling some of the people that in a certain way, you really want to be asked to go. You know, I hate to barge in on a city and then be treated horribly by corrupt politicians and bad politicians,” Trump said Monday, while signing several executive orders, including one targeting states like Illinois that have abolished cash bail.

When asked directly about sending federal troops to Chicago, Trump answered, saying, “I didn’t get a request from the governor. Illinois is affected maybe more than anybody else. And I think until I get that request from [Pritzker], I’m not going to do anything about it.”

However, Pritkzer, along with Johnson and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, held a press conference in downtown Chicago on Monday afternoon.

“What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted,” Pritzker said. “It is illegal. It is unconstitutional. It is un-American.”

According to the Governor’s Office, murders in Chicago have declined more than 30% in the past year, and 50% since 2021, with robberies down 33% from 2024, and shootings down 36%.

However, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab, violent crime remains 21% higher than the U.S. national average.

“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 but calling the military into a US city to invade our streets and neighborhoods and disrupt the lives of everyday people is an extraordinary action and it should require extraordinary justification,” the Governor said.

Pritzker cited CDC data from 2023, which showed that 8 of the 10 states with the highest homicide rates are run by Republican governors.

The governor also said his administration has taken steps to address “the root causes of violence,” with a $250 million Reimagine Public Safety Act, which included training residents to become Peacekeepers in Chicago neighborhoods.

Pritzker also accused Trump of “defunding the police” by freezing $158 million in funding for violence prevention programs and dismantling the Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

The U.S. Posse Comitatus Act bars federal troops from engaging in civilian policing. The Insurrection Act allows exceptions, but only in cases of rebellion or a complete breakdown of local government.

Another speaker at the press conference, Ciera Bates-Chamberlain, the executive director of the activist group Live Free Illinois, said, “The President of the United States has decided to target black and brown communities, communities already traumatized by state-sanctioned violence and white supremacy.”

“This is a declaration of war on our people,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.