Pritzker says 100 National Guard troops could be deployed to Chicago amid ongoing ‘Operation Midway Blitz’

CHICAGO (WGN) — An urgent warning from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker suggests that an already tense situation with federal agents patrolling downtown Chicago could escalate.

The governor says the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War requesting 100 active-duty troops be deployed across Chicago.

“The Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security has sent a memo to the Department of War seeking the deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois, claiming a need for the protection of ICE personnel and facilities,” Pritzker said. “What I have been warning of is now being realized.” 

Pritzker shared the update during a briefing on Monday afternoon. He was joined by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, the Chair of the Illinois Legislative Caucus, the president of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, and many other community leaders. 

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The briefing was in response to federal immigration enforcement’s show of force over the weekend.

Border Patrol agents wearing tactical gear and carrying long guns roamed downtown streets and traveled on boats in the Chicago River. The agents also reportedly took dozens of people into custody.  

The commander of the border force, Gregory Bovino, joined agents as they marched downtown. Bovino has vowed to make Chicago a safer place. 

He reportedly told the Chicago Sun-Times that the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is making arrests based on how people look. Although that practice has been widely condemned, the U.S. Supreme Court has said federal agents could continue stopping people based on race and language. Immigration rights activists have gone on record, calling the act terrifying. 

“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, Kristi Noem, and Tom Homan said they were targeting the worst of the worst. 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.”

“What we saw yesterday was an absolute disgrace,” Johnson added. “Families, visitors, and everyday Chicagoans were out enjoying our city, and they were met with dozens of heavily armed federal agents.

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

In Broadview, its ICE detention facility has become the frontline of the Chicago area crackdown and protest. Demonstrators and ICE have clashed repeatedly.

“The images we have seen in the Chicago area look more like a region under siege than they do America in peacetime,” Raoul said.

Broadview police also opened an investigation into an incident on Sunday involving a Channel 2 reporter. A projectile was allegedly fired at the reporter’s vehicle while she was alone, and the streets were calm, according to the local CBS affiliate.

Raoul also announced that the state would sue over the Trump administration’s diversion of $100 million in public safety and disaster relief funds from Illinois and other states.