WASHINGTON, Aug 24, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The Trump administration has been 
planning for weeks to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago as part of an 
expanded crackdown on crime and immigration, according to reports in US 
media.

The Pentagon has been sketching out plans that could mobilize several 
thousand National Guard members to the nation's third-largest city as early 
as September, The Washington Post reported, quoting unidentified officials 
familiar with the matter.

The Pentagon refused to confirm the reports. "We won't speculate on further 
operations," a defense official said.

"The Department is a planning organization and is continuously working with 
other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel," the 
official said on condition of anonymity.

The reports come after President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops 
this month in the capital Washington, DC, where another defense official said 
personnel would soon be carrying weapons.

Trump said on Friday that Chicago and New York -- major Democrat-led cities -
- were set to receive similar treatment.

"We're going to make our cities very, very safe," Trump told reporters at the 
White House. "I think Chicago will be our next and then we'll help with New 
York."

The potential deployment in Chicago would follow a similar pattern to Trump's 
controversial June operation in Los Angeles, where he sent 4,000 California 
National Guard members and 700 active-duty Marines over state objections, 
unidentified sources told CNN.

It would also complement the expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
crackdown targeting undocumented migrants.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, both 
Democrats, strongly rejected the idea.

"Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans are trying to paint their party as one of 
'law and order,'" Pritzker posted on social media platform X.

"That couldn't be further from the truth."

Pritzker said in remarks reported by WBEZ Chicago that "public safety is 
under attack by the Trump administration."

Johnson said the city had received no formal communication from Trump's 
administration about military deployments, calling such action 
"uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound."

Chicago recorded 573 homicides in 2024, according to the city's police, eight 
percent lower than the year before.