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According to a statement issued Saturday by the Governor’s Office, the Department of War gave Pritzker an ultimatum this morning to “call up your troops, or we will.”
“It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Pritzker said.
“In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard. They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control,” the governor continued.
“This demand follows unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents. Yesterday, Kristi Noem’s and Greg Bovino’s masked agents threw chemical agents near an elementary school, arrested elected officials exercising their First Amendment rights, and raided a Wal-Mart. None of it was in pursuit of justice, but all of it was in pursuit of social media videos,” Pritzker continued.
“I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois. State, county, and local law enforcement have been working together and coordinating to ensure public safety around the Broadview ICE facility, and to protect people’s ability to peacefully exercise their constitutional rights. I will not call up our National Guard to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people,” he concluded.
Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people Friday protesting near an immigration facility outside Chicago that has been frequently targeted during President Donald Trump’s administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.
As Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem met with employees inside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing facility in Broadview, a crowd grew over several hours, some riled by newly installed barricades to separate them from law enforcement officers stationed outside.
Noem also accompanied agents Friday on a raid near a local Walmart store and later engaged in a tit-for-tat over unannounced visits — and even bathroom use — with the Broadview mayor.
Immigrants’ rights advocates and residents separately reported that federal agents had used tear gas near grocery or hardware stores they had targeted for enforcement elsewhere in Chicago on Friday and detained a city council member as she questioned the attempted arrest of a man. The federal government has restricted airspace over Broadview, officials said Friday, and Gov. JB Pritzker called for an investigation into an immigration raid on the city’s South Side early Tuesday morning.
The Illinois State Police, whose officers patrolled the grounds wearing riot helmets and holding batons, set up concrete barriers Thursday night to segregate protesters and designate spaces to demonstrate, with several adjacent streets being closed. Many demonstrators ignored the zones to protest on the other side of the building, saying the corrals prevented free speech rights.
The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed it has restricted Chicago airspace, with Border Patrol citing “a credible threat” against law enforcement amid ongoing clashes with protesters at the Broadview site.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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