Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday said that President Donald Trump’s threat to authorize a federal deployment in his state is “authoritarian creep.”
After deploying federal law enforcement to Washington in an effort Trump’s administration said was to fight crime in the District, Trump has repeatedly suggested he would seek ways to start similar deployments in other Democratic-run cities.
“Mr. President, do not come to Chicago, you are neither wanted here nor needed here. Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy,” Pritzker said.
The Democratic governor is a rising star in his party, and he made the case that there is no emergency in his state that warrants federal intervention.
“If I sound alarmist, it is because I am ringing an alarm,” Pritzker told reporters at a press conference in downtown Chicago.
On Monday morning, Trump attacked Democratic leaders for criticizing his federal deployment in the District of Columbia. He said that other Democratic-run cities should welcome federal forces.
“Illinois is a disaster. I have property there, it’s a disaster,” Trump said. “I think the Democrats better get smart and, you know, politically, I hope they don’t — but actually, in terms of love for the country, I hope they do because it will be good to work together.”
“When I have some slob like Pritzker criticizing us before we even go there. I made the statement that next should be Chicago because, as you all know, Chicago is a killing field right now, and they don’t acknowledge it. And they say, ‘We don’t need him. Freedom. Freedom. He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator,’” Trump added.
The Washington Post reported over the weekend that the Pentagon for weeks has been planning a military deployment to Chicago for weeks.
Pritzker said Monday that no White House official has reached out to his office to coordinate a federal deployment. He added that his office has not reached out to the federal government for federal law enforcement support either.
The governor called on Chicago residents to peacefully protest federal deployments and said he would legally challenge any that he believes violate the rights of the residents of Illinois.
California is currently in an ongoing legal battle with the federal government over the deployment of the National Guard as protestors took to the streets in Los Angeles over Trump’s mass deportation policies. In Washington, Republicans have deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to metro stations, entertainment districts and landmarks across the city.
Democrats in the cities that Trump has threatened with federal intervention have pointed to their crime rates to argue that activating troops to the areas is illogical.
“Over the past two years we have seen significant reductions in crime and violence. And in the last year alone we have seen more than a 30% decline in homicide,” Mayor Brandon Johnson of Chicago told reporters during the same event.
“The last thing that Chicago needs is someone from the outside of our city, who doesn’t know our city, is trying to dictate and tell us what our city needs,” Johnson added.
Illinois Democrats argued that Trump’s repeated threats to federalize law enforcement in Democratic cities had less to do with crime rates than with other political goals.
“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.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth said Trump’s threats were an effort to distract from the administration’s political liabilities.
“If he really cared about health and safety, he wouldn’t have cut millions of dollars in gun-violence-intervention funding just years ago,” Duckworth said. “Instead, this is just another sad attempt by a small man to distract the American people for the price spikes that his foreign policy system is causing.”
The National Guard, Duckworth said, “Should be training to fight, to take the fight to the enemies abroad, not to bring their fight to the neighbors here at home.”