Trump To Federalize Illinois National Guard, Governor Says
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) said on Sunday that President Donald Trump will federalize the Illinois National Guard.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker wrote on Bluesky, using Trump’s non-statutory term for the Department of Defense. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will.”
The move comes a day after Trump activated 200 National Guard members in Portland, Oregon as part of the president’s ostensible aim of combating cities run by Democrats. Trump has also deployed the National Guard in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
“In the coming hours, the Trump Administration intends to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard,” the governor added. “They will pull hardworking Americans out of their regular jobs and away from their families all to participate in a manufactured performance — not a serious effort the protect public safety. For Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about control.”
In a rambling address to top military brass on Tuesday, Trump said that American cities should serve as “training grounds” for U.S. soldiers.
“And I told [Secretary of Defense] Pete [Hegseth] we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military, National Guard, but military, because we’re going into Chicago’s very soon,” the president warned. “That’s a big city with an incompetent governor. Stupid governor.”
“I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “I will not call up our National Guard to further Trump’s acts of aggression against our people.”
