President Donald Trump declared Tuesday that his administration will deploy the National Guard to Chicago following a violent Labor Day weekend in which at least eight people were killed and more than 50 wounded in shootings.
“We’re going in,” Trump said during an Oval Office press conference on Sept. 2, according to NBC News. “I didn’t say when.” He added that he would prefer Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to request federal assistance but insisted the federal government has the authority to intervene regardless.
“If the governor of Illinois would call me up, I would love to do it. Now, we’re going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it,” Trump said.
Local Resistance
Chicago Democratic Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Aug. 30 instructing city police not to cooperate with federal forces if Trump follows through.
“We send a resounding message to the federal government: we do not need nor want an unconstitutional and illegal military occupation of our city,” Johnson said in a statement, according to The Washington Post.
Gov. Pritzker has likewise rejected Trump’s proposal, telling CBS News over the weekend that he would “do everything I can to stop him from taking away people’s rights and from using the military to invade states.”
Violence and Crime Trends
The Labor Day weekend marked Chicago’s most violent holiday stretch of the summer, with nine people killed and 52 others wounded by gunfire, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Still, broader city statistics show violent crime has declined in 2025. By mid-August, Chicago Police Department figures reflected a 23% drop in violent crime compared to the same period last year, putting the city on pace for its lowest homicide rate in nearly 50 years, according to The Washington Post.
Legal and Political Fight
Deploying National Guard troops without state consent could require invoking the Insurrection Act, a rarely used measure permitting federal intervention in extraordinary circumstances. Legal experts warn such a move would spark immediate court challenges.
Trump has increasingly targeted Democrat governors including Pritzker, Maryland’s Wes Moore, and California’s Gavin Newsom, framing Chicago’s violence as evidence of failed leadership. “I will solve the crime problem fast, just like I did in DC. Chicago will be safe again, and soon,” Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.