Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker denounced the Trump administration\u2019s deployment of armed Border Patrol and immigration officers, some wearing masks, in Chicago and other parts of the state at a news conference Monday. He called the moves \u201cauthoritarianism\u201d and an attack on Americans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bristling from weeks of what he labeled \u201cchaos\u201d \u2014 including a weekend of clashes between the agents and demonstrators \u2014 Pritzker condemned armed officers patrolling city streets and the Chicago River stopping and arresting people. His message to them: \u201cGet out of Chicago. You are not helping us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pritzker warned the administration may be about to escalate its operation with the addition of military troops and equipment. Moments before the news conference, the Illinois National Guard received word that the Department of Homeland Security had sent a memo to the Defense Department seeking deployment of 100 military troops to Illinois, Pritzker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The presence of federal officers in the Chicago area is part of the Trump administration\u2019s crackdown on immigrants and cities that President Donald Trump says are plagued by crime. He has claimed Chicago is a \u201chellhole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump has deployed National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and New York and may send about 200 to Portland, Oregon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The enforcement in and around Chicago turned deadly this month when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed an immigrant who tried to flee in his car when an officer pulled him over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Department of Homeland Security has said the agent, who was standing by the passenger side of the vehicle, was dragged as the car was moving and injured. Pritzker and other state officials have been demanding more information and transparency about the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The immigration officers and agents have been \u201cwaging war on our people\u201d in an attempt to cause \u201cchaos and mayhem in the hopes to deploy military troops against Chicago and Broadview and other suburbs,\u201d Pritzker said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists and protesters when unprovoked, what would we call it? If federal agents marched down busy streets harassing civilians and demanding their papers … I don\u2019t think we\u2019d have any trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism,\u201d Pritzker said, referring to the presence of troops in downtown Chicago and a recent protest where ICE officers fired pepper spray at demonstrators and a tear gas canister was placed near media trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pritzker was flanked by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, other elected officials and representatives of faith communities, business and other parts of state and local society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pritzker said Trump and members of his administration are lying when they claim that the military and law enforcement deployments are improving public safety by leading to arrests of violent criminals and gang members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, Pritzker said, agents are \u201cacting like jackbooted thugs,\u201d targeting tamale vendors, delivery people and families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have received many reports of U.S. citizens being detained for simply stepping on a public street,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sunday, Trump said on Truth Social that \u201cBorder Patrol will take no nonsense\u201d in a post that included video of immigration officers confronting a crowd of protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, a gunman fired from a rooftop onto an ICE facility in Dallas, killing an immigrant detainee and injuring two others. Authorities said that the shooter was targeting ICE agents and that one of the bullets had a marking that said \u201canti ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump said after the Dallas shooting that ICE agents \u201care facing an unprecedented increase in threats [and] violence\u201d and called on Democrats to stop rhetoric against ICE and law enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not long after Pritzker\u2019s news conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X that she had directed agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service to deploy officers and agents to ICE facilities \u201cwhenever they come under attack.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Federal agents and protesters clashed Friday through Sunday outside the ICE facility in Broadview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sept. 19, agents deployed tear gas and pepper spray against protesters trying to block ICE vehicles from driving in and out of the Broadview facility. Physical confrontations erupted as officers sought to arrest some protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An NBC Chicago reporter at that protest said a tear gas canister was placed near its media trucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Separately, the Broadview Police Department is investigating a CBS Chicago reporter\u2019s complaint that on Sunday a masked federal agent fired pepper balls at her from about 50 feet inside the Broadview ICE facility fence, striking her vehicle, NBC Chicago reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A DHS representative told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement Monday that \u201cNo member of the media at CBS or any other outlet was \u2018attacked.\u2019\u201d The statement also added, in part, \u201cSecretary Noem has been clear: rioters will not stop or slow us down from removing the worst of the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson told DHS in a letter obtained by NBC News that the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement actions are beleaguering residents and first responders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201crelentless\u201d deployment of tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets is \u201cendangering\u201d nearby residents and harming police and firefighters and people exercising their constitutional rights, Thompson wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also said DHS has ignored the village\u2019s request to take down a gate it \u201cillegally\u201d erected on a street in front of its ICE facility, which she called an obstruction for firefighters who may need to respond to emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to dismantle the fence. You have to stop putting our residents, our police officers, our firefighters, and our citizens in harm\u2019s way,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The policing by Border Patrol is taking place as agents encounter significantly fewer immigrants on the southwest border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his remarks Monday, Pritzker sent a plea to his state\u2019s residents: \u201cGet out your cellphones, record and narrate what you see, put it on social media.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He encouraged residents to \u201cpeacefully\u201d ask for badge numbers and ID and speak up for neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe need to let the world know that this is happening, and we won\u2019t stand for it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n