“But then you hear Vice President Vance and the president of the United States contravening that and saying exactly what they actually think.
In court proceedings and federal deployment memos, the Trump administration has said the National Guard was needed because of threats and violence against federal agents enforcing immigration law.
Additionally, various state Democratic officials, including Pritzker, have argued that guard troops would be ineffective at helping fight street crime because they’re not trained for it.
Trump has discussed the potential of invoking the two-century-old Insurrection Act as a way to get around judicial orders blocking guard deployment.
Pressed repeatedly by Stephanopoulos on whether he thinks Pritzker has committed a crime, Vance refused to answer yes or no.
Gov. Even though the federal government has stressed in court and Pentagon memos that the mission is primarily to protect federal immigration enforcement agents and federal property, JB Pritzker criticized the Trump administration on Sunday for justifying the deployment of National Guard troops to Chicago as necessary to combat violent crime in the city.
As a kind of political retaliation, Pritzker claimed during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” that President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance intend to deploy the National Guard to cities like Portland, Oregon, and Chicago in order to militarize the nation’s Democratic-controlled enclaves.
“In court, they are asserting that this is about safeguarding (U. A. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) facilities and ICE officers and not about street crime,” the governor said to George Stephanopoulos, host of the show. The president of the United States and Vice President Vance, however, break that rule and express their true opinions. Their goal is to militarize, particularly in blue states and cities, so they simply want troops on the ground. “.”.
“Chicago has been given over to lawlessness and gangs for too long,” Vance told the audience during his appearance on the same program ahead of Pritzker, continuing the theme of the National Guard combating crime. “”.
Given Chicago’s high murder and violent crime rates, many women with small children are afraid that their children will be killed in a drive-by shooting. In the United States, we have long tolerated this in some of our largest cities, and Chicago is regrettably the worst,” Vance told Stephanopoulos. “When the local mayor (Brandon Johnson) and the governor just refuse to do their jobs, why shouldn’t federal troops be able to help the people of Chicago live safe lives?”.
Chicago, the third-biggest city in the country by population, is the most populous city in the U.S. S. cities in terms of annual homicides, the city has a homicide rate that is far lower than the highest in the nation. Additionally, according to official Chicago police statistics, through October… 5. Compared to the same period in 2021, when the nation was engulfed in the COVID-19 pandemic, the city saw 331 homicides, a 49 percent decrease. During the same four years, Chicago saw a 57% decrease in total shootings.
In court filings and federal deployment memos, the Trump administration has claimed that violence and threats against federal agents enforcing immigration law necessitated the deployment of the National Guard.
Memoranda released last weekend by U. S. Additionally, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made no explicit mention of using troops to combat underlying violence in the United States. S. cities, unrelated to the federal government employees who helped them.
The troops, which included 300 members of the Illinois National Guard, would instead be used to defend agents and other federal government employees who are “performing Federal functions, including the enforcement of Federal law, and to protect Federal property, at locations where violent demonstrations against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations,” according to the memos. “”.
The federal Posse Comitatus Act states that U. S. It is forbidden for the National Guard and other military units to carry out law enforcement operations on US territory. Additionally, Pritzker and other state Democratic officials have contended that guard troops are not prepared to combat street crime, so they would be useless in this regard.
Last week, a federal judge in Chicago temporarily blocked Trump’s plan to send the troops into the streets of the Chicago area to serve as a security force during the administration’s contentious “Operation Midway Blitz” immigration enforcement mission. In recent weeks, protesters and federal immigration enforcement officers, along with Illinois State Police, have engaged in occasionally heated altercations at an ICE processing center located in the west suburban neighborhood of Broadview.
Due to the decision made by U. A. Federalized guard members from Illinois, Texas, and California would not be permitted to return to the streets for the time being, according to District Judge April Perry, who was appointed by President Joe Biden. According to Perry, the government’s claims of uncontrollable violence are untrustworthy, and federal agents are to blame for fueling the unrest by using militaristic tactics and tear gas on protesters.
The Trump administration sought an emergency stay of Perry’s temporary restraining order until a full appeal hearing, but the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the request on Saturday. The troops were not permitted to engage in any street activities, but the appeals court did permit them to stay federalized.
The possibility of using the two-century-old Insurrection Act to circumvent court orders preventing the deployment of guards has been raised by Trump. An exception to the Posse Comitatus Act is the Insurrection Act, which would permit the U. S. To put down a “rebellion” or when it becomes “impractical” to enforce federal law, the military should actively participate in law enforcement. “”.
The former U. A. Decisions from the Supreme Court have granted the president broad authority to specify the requirements for using it. Although relying on the judiciary is sometimes “risky business,” Pritzker stated that the state would attempt to oppose such a move in court. “.”.
There is a reason why the Insurrection Act is called that. In order for him to be permitted to use it, there must be an uprising or rebellion, according to Pritzker.
He said, “He can say whatever he wants, but if the Constitution means anything, and I guess we are all questioning that right now, but the courts will make the determination, (and) if the Constitution means anything, the Insurrection Act cannot be invoked to send them in because they want to fight crime.”.
The Republican president and top state Democrats engaged in a dramatic rhetorical escalation last week when Trump took to social media to demand that Pritzker and Johnson be imprisoned for their failure to protect ICE officers.
Stephanopoulos pressed Vance repeatedly about whether he believed Pritzker had committed a crime, but he would not say yes or no. Instead, Vance claimed that Pritzker had “failed to do his job,” “should suffer some consequences” as a result of the violence in Chicago, and had “violated his fundamental oath of office,” which “seems pretty criminal to me.”. However, he gave the jury and judge the power to determine whether or not he had broken the law.
As demonstrated by the recent indictments of former FBI Director James Comey on allegations of lying to Congress and New York Attorney General Letitia James on charges of mortgage fraud, Pritzker argued that Trump’s call for his imprisonment was part of a broader trend in which the president targets his political rivals. Both have previously led investigations into the president.
“They’re fabricating stories to target people.”. We witness it every day, and despite the fact that he threatened me, I don’t feel scared. “There are truly unconstitutional actions coming out of this administration, coming at the states and the people of the United States, and I’m going to stand up for the people of my state. We have to stand together,” Pritzker stated.
It is accurate to say that the president occasionally fulfills his threats. The governor added, “And he definitely has the authority of the presidency.”. “The Constitution cannot be overridden by him. Therefore, am I afraid? No, I’m not. Do I think he could pull it off? I think he could. However, as I’ve stated previously, “Come and get me.”. You are completely mistaken. ‘.”.
