Gov. JB Pritzker (D-IL) gathered state and local leaders from Illinois to stand against the Trump administration’s move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago, calling on federal officers to stay “the hell out of Chicago.”
“The state of Illinois is going to use every lever at our disposal to resist this power grab and get Noem’s thugs the hell out of Chicago. I’m not afraid. I am not afraid and I won’t back down,” Pritzker said, referring to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
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Pritzker made the comments during a Monday afternoon press conference in which he detailed Illinois and Chicago’s lawsuit against the Trump administration for its ordered deployment of 300 Illinois National Guard troops to Chicago.
Pritzker accused President Donald Trump of wanting to incite chaos in the city “to create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act.”
“Federal agents have been openly carrying assault rifles downtown, racially profiling people, and based on that, demanding proof of citizenship and snatching people up in our neighborhoods without a judicial warrant. All of it, rightfully, has Illinoisans very upset,” Pritzker said.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon that he would invoke the Insurrection Act if necessary.
“So far it hasn’t been necessary, but we have an insurrection act for a reason,” Trump said. “If people were being killed and courts were holding us up or governors or mayors were holding us up, sure, I’d do that.”
Pritzker also had sharp words for Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX). Pritzker has repeatedly told Abbott to withdraw his support for Trump’s decision to authorize the Texas National Guard in Illinois.
“Gov. Abbot should stay the hell out of Illinois’s business,” Pritzker said during Monday’s press conference.
“Gov. Pritzker smears ICE and CBP officers as thugs, but to millions of Americans—including those victimized by criminal illegal aliens — they are heroes,” Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in response to Pritzker’s “thugs” comments.
PRITZKER SAYS TRUMP WANTS ‘MAYHEM’ IN CHICAGO TO JUSTIFY DEPLOYING MORE TROOPS
“The real thugs are the worst of the worst — including pedophiles, rapists, murderers, gang members, and armed robbers — that Pritzker allows to terrorize the people of Illinois,” she added. “It’s no wonder Chicago has had the most murders of any U.S. city for 13 consecutive years. His rhetoric is directly contributing to domestic terrorists attacking our brave law enforcement. If he doesn’t knock this garbage off, one of our brave law enforcement officers is going to be killed.”
A court gave the Trump administration’s Department of Justice two days to respond in writing to the state’s temporary restraining order motion, meaning the DOJ has until before midnight on Wednesday to respond, according to Pritzker. He said the next hearing in the case will be on Thursday.