(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he will go to court if President Donald Trump sends the National Guard to Chicago.
The governor visited a public school in Berwyn Thursday and was asked what he would do if the president deployed the Guard to help prevent crime.
“We’re going to immediately go to court if National Guard or other military troops are sent, deployed to the city of Chicago,” Pritzker said.
During a meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday, Trump expressed frustration with Pritzker’s lack of cooperation with his administration. The president said crime is the number one issue for Republicans against Democrats.
“They are against preventing crime. They are fighting us. I want to go into Chicago and have that incompetent governor, that doesn’t want us,” Trump said.
The president said the people of Chicago support him, and he said his administration could straighten the city out.
Pritzker suggested Thursday that the Trump administration had a “nefarious plan” to deploy Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cause mayhem and then claim the need for military troops to protect ICE.
“We’re going to do everything we can again to alleviate the challenge on the people of Chicago if in fact the president is trying to bring troops into Chicago, military troops,” Pritzker said.
State Rep. Martin McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills, questioned why some media use the term “threat” to refer to the National Guard.
“It’s ‘a threat coming from Washington, a threat.’ I’m trying to understand why an American in uniform, standing on a street corner trying to protect other Americans, is a threat to anyone,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin said the real threat is to those who have a failed record when it comes to public safety.
