Trump vows to send federal forces to Chicago, Baltimore

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - SEPTEMBER 1: People hold "No Troops in Chicago" signs during the Labor Day Workers Over Billionaires rally, in solidarity with labor unions and advocacy groups, on September 1, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. The demonstration was one of hundreds scheduled to take place across the country today, in opposition to the Trump administration's policies. — People hold signs during the Labor Day Workers Over Billionaires rally on Sept. 1, 2025, in Chicago

(Image credit: Audrey Richardson / Getty Images)

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."

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Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.