Trump administration asks military base outside Chicago for support on immigration operations

CHICAGO (AP) — The Trump administration asked a military base outside Chicago for support on immigration operations, the base said Thursday, offering a clue of what an expanded law enforcement crackdown might look like in the nation’s third-largest city.

The Department of Homeland Security has asked Naval Station Great Lakes for “limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS operations,” said Matt Mogle, spokesperson for the base 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Chicago.

The request came weeks after the Republican administration deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to target crime, immigration and homelessness, and two months after it sent troops to Los Angeles.

Details about the administration’s plans for Chicago remain scarce.

Mogle said no decisions have been made on the request, and that the base hasn’t received an official request to support a National Guard deployment. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported on the request to the Navy base.

Chicago Mayor Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have fought back, saying crime has fallen in Chicago and that the city doesn’t want or need the military’s help. They are planning to sue.

Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, has spent days showcasing parts of the city where crime has fallen. He told The Associated Press that the presence of troops could worsen the situation.

“What he’s trying to do is try to inflame something that will cause a problem that he can then point at,” the two-term governor said, referring to President Donald Trump.

Trump has often singled out Chicago, likening it to a war zone and “hellhole.” Chicago’s long-held status as a so-called sanctuary city has irked the Trump administration, which used Chicago to kick off a nationwide crackdown on immigration weeks after Trump’s second inauguration.

Pritzker and Trump have traded barbs over the issue for days.

“The people are desperate for me to STOP THE CRIME, something the Democrats aren’t capable of doing,” Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social network.

Violent crime in the city has dropped significantly in recent years, but it remains a persistent problem.

In 2024, the city reported 573 homicides, the most of any U.S. city that year, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. At the same time, violent crime dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. In the first six months of 2025, total violent crime dropped by over 22% when compared with the same time period last year.

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O’Connor reported from Springfield, Illinois.