Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) condemned President Donald Trump’s threats to send National Guard troops to Chicago and plainly warned him against proceeding in a set of blistering remarks on Monday.
“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago,” Pritzker said while surrounded by dozens of Democratic lawmakers and community leaders, including Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. “You are neither wanted here nor needed here.”
Pritzker’s statements add to vocal pushback from state and local leaders in the wake of a Saturday Washington Post report, which revealed that the Pentagon has been preparing to deploy troops to Chicago for weeks. On Friday, Trump suggested that Chicago could be the next city to see federal intervention after he sent the National Guard to Washington, D.C., for a purported crackdown on crime.
Pritzker and Johnson have repeatedly stressed that they have not asked for such intervention, that the city doesn’t need it and that the White House hasn’t consulted local leaders at all in its efforts.
“We have made no requests for federal intervention. None,” Pritzker said, while emphasizing that crime rates in Chicago have declined significantly compared to last year.
According to data from the city and the police department, overall violent crime in Chicago is down roughly 22% compared to 2024, and incidents including homicides and robberies have seen significant declines as well.
Pritzker also questioned why Trump was targeting Chicago when a number of cities in Republican-led states, including Memphis, Tennessee, have far worse crime rates. Pritzer said this dynamic was clear evidence that Trump’s actions are politically motivated.
“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 and intimidate his political rivals,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker also called on Republican governors who would help supply National Guard troops for a Chicago deployment to reflect on how they “would be failing [their] constituents and [their] country” by doing so.
In a statement, a White House spokesperson insisted the National Guard deployments were about crime.
“If these Democrats spent half as much time addressing crime in their cities as they did going on cable news to complain about President Trump, their residents would be a lot safer,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Pritzker’s fiery response comes as Democrats from across the country are increasingly standing up to Trump and refusing to bow to pressure to submit to his immigration enforcement policies or to accept partisan redistricting without responding in kind.
