Amid rising concerns about crime, the White House suggests there’s no need for Americans to feel terrified as President Trump considers mobilizing National Guard troops in various cities. Illinois officials, including Governor JB Pritzker, have expressed a lack of interest in having National Guard presence in Chicago. However, the White House has indicated it is open to requests for extra law enforcement support from both Republican and Democratic leaders to help combat crime in urban areas.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt conveyed a message to American communities governed by Democrats: “Decline is a choice. You shouldn’t have to live in constant fear of theft, violence, or worse. Your leaders are misleading you.”
Pritzker, a Democrat who has not ruled out a presidential run in 2028, firmly opposed the notion of National Guard troops coming to Chicago, calling such an action “unconstitutional” and “non-American.” He accused Trump of aiming to use military presence to control American cities, suggesting that if it were occurring in foreign nations, it would rightly be deemed as a troubling occupation.
While the White House criticized Pritzker’s stance, emphasizing that local law enforcement should take charge in addressing crime, Pritzker argued that Trump’s moves are a way to create a crisis to justify deployment in the city. In a statement, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson highlighted a reported decline in crime rates in Chicago, claiming they had decreased by over 30% in the past year with robberies and shootings down nearly 40%.
Despite these claims, the White House referenced long-standing data indicating that Chicago has recorded the highest number of murders among U.S. cities for the past 13 years, with recent data from 2024 reaffirming this trend. “This is the legacy of JB Pritzker,” Leavitt stated, underscoring the ongoing crime challenges.
Johnson dismissed Trump’s National Guard intentions as “uncoordinated, meaningless, and unhealthy,” urging Pritzker to engage with the president rather than play politics. He mentioned that Chicago has the lowest murder rate per capita and is not among the top five cities for violent crime based on 2024 FBI data.
On August 11, Trump announced plans to mobilize troops from the D.C. National Guard to augment local police in Washington, D.C., while expressing a willingness to extend similar support to other cities, including Chicago. He confidently claimed, “We’ll come in and settle Chicago within a week, but maybe not that much. There will be no crimes in Chicago within a week.”
