Trump vows to send federal forces to Chicago, Baltimore

What happened

President Donald Trump Tuesday said he was ready to send federal troops into the Democratic-led cities Chicago and Baltimore, despite staunch opposition from state and local officials. The announcement came hours after a federal judge in California ruled that Trump's troop deployment in Los Angeles was illegal.

Who said what

"We're going in" to "hellhole" Chicago, Trump told reporters, though he did not say when. "This isn't a political thing. I have an obligation." Trump said if Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) would "call me up, I would love to do it," but "we're going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it."

Pritzker described Trump's comments as "unhinged" and reiterated he would not request federal intervention. "When did we become a country where it's OK for the U.S. president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything, especially something we don't want?" Pritzker said at a press conference in Chicago. "Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation that we treat this as normal?"

If Tuesday's ruling against Trump's L.A. deployment stands, it will "pose impediments" to any plans he may have "for sending the military into the streets of other cities, like Chicago," The New York Times said.

What next?

Pritzker said Illinois officials were informed over the weekend that Border Patrol agents would be coming to Chicago and "we have reason to believe" the White House has "already begun staging the Texas National Guard for deployment in Illinois," though the administration was "not working in coordination with the city of Chicago, Cook County or the state." He urged Chicago residents to remain calm, look out for their neighbors and film and share any interactions with federal agents. "Authoritarians thrive on your silence," he said. "Be loud for America."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up