Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been desperate to push again in opposition to President Donald Trump, and now the second that would catapult him into the nationwide limelight — with near-term penalties for his state and long-term implications for his political future — has come.
Pritzker stated at a information convention Tuesday {that a} federal immigration enforcement blitz in Chicago is imminent. He additionally stated Trump “has no idea what he’s talking about,” after the president claimed in a social media put up that “Chicago is the worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far” and later instructed reporters town is a “hellhole.”
“There is no emergency that warrants deployment of troops. He is insulting the people of Chicago by calling our home a hellhole, and anyone who takes his word at face value is insulting Chicagoans, too,” Pritzker stated.
The Illinois governor’s feedback got here hours after Trump instructed reporters on the White House he’ll ship National Guard troops into Chicago — however didn’t say when.
“Well, we’re going. I didn’t say when. We’re going in,” Trump stated.
The president added that Pritzker ought to name him and request federal help after a rash of 34 shootings within the metropolis over Labor Day weekend that left seven individuals lifeless and 49 others wounded.
And he instructed reporters that the 2 Democratic governors who’ve fought his administration most forcefully, Pritzker and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, are “the two worst and most naive” governors within the nation.
Pritzker responded that Illinois doesn’t need what Trump insists he’ll ship.
“When did we become a country where it’s OK for the US president to insist on national television that a state should call him to beg for anything — especially something we don’t want?” Pritzker stated Tuesday. “Have we truly lost all sense of sanity in this nation, that we treat this as normal?”
The governor stood alongside Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson — usually a political rival — and state Attorney General Kwame Raoul for Tuesday’s information convention. Johnson criticized Trump for reducing grants for gun violence prevention applications that he stated have been efficient.
The back-and-forth with Trump is a test for Pritzker that would play a task in figuring out his political future inside a celebration during which voters say they’re sad with the social gathering’s management and searching for stronger efforts to fight Trump’s actions.
A NCS poll conducted by SSRS in July discovered that Democratic and Democratic-aligned voters have been way more energized than Republicans about taking part in subsequent yr’s midterms. But the ballot additionally revealed deep issues dealing with the social gathering, together with from inside its personal ranks — the place voters are desperate to see the social gathering rise up extra forcefully in opposition to Trump. Just 28% of Americans view the Democratic Party favorably, the bottom mark for Democrats within the historical past of NCS’s polling going again to 1992.
Pritzker, a billionaire member of the household that owns the Hyatt lodge chain who’s searching for a 3rd time period as governor in 2026, is extensively seen as a possible 2028 Democratic presidential contender.
That contest may embody plenty of different Democratic officers who’ve taken completely different approaches to Trump’s actions throughout his second time period in workplace. Newsom has been among the many most confrontational — opposing Trump’s efforts and mocking the president’s type on social media. Others, like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, have been extra muted — at instances cooperating with the Trump administration.
Pritzker has lengthy been constructing for his second in opposition to Trump — and for what may finally grow to be a 2028 presidential marketing campaign.
In April, he traveled to New Hampshire, which is poised to play an early position within the 2028 nominating contest, although Democrats haven’t but finalized their presidential major calendar.
He lambasted “the culture of timidity” throughout the Democratic Party, rejected what he bemoaned as “the culture of incrementalism” and referred to as for “do-nothing” figures to step apart.
“Fellow Democrats, for far too long we’ve been guilty of listening to a bunch of do-nothing political types who would tell us that America’s house is not on fire, even as the flames are licking their faces. Today, as the blaze reaches the rafters, the pundits and politicians – whose simpering timidity served as kindle for the arsonists – urge us now not to reach for a hose,” he stated.
“Meanwhile, if we took care to listen to the voices of real people, we would hear our neighbors and friends standing on the street outside screaming for a response, one big enough for a five-alarmer.”
It’s not but clear when federal officers will launch a large-scale effort in Illinois. Pritzker instructed reporters Tuesday he expects “what has played out in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, to happen here in Chicago” inside days.
He stated the Trump administration is staging federal brokers and automobiles on federal property, such because the Naval Station Great Lakes in close by Lake County, Indiana. He additionally stated he has “reason to believe” the Texas National Guard is making ready to be deployed in Illinois.
Additionally, “unidentifiable” brokers in unmarked automobiles with masks are planning to raid Latino communities, within the identify of focusing on “violent criminals,” the governor stated. Pritzker stated a really small share of the focused people are literally violent.
“Instead, you’re to see videos of them hauling away mothers and fathers traveling to work or picking up their kids from school. Sometimes they will detain, handcuff and haul away children,” Pritzker stated.
The governor stated the state is able to battle the troop deployment in courtroom.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that agents operating inside the confines of this state, do so in a legal and ethical manner,” he stated.
He stated he expects the Trump administration’s efforts will coincide with Mexican Independence Day, which is September 16 and usually celebrated extensively in Chicago and the encircling suburbs. Festivities begin September 6 with a parade in Pilsen, a closely Latino Lower West Side neighborhood.
“It breaks my heart that we have been told ICE will try and disrupt community picnics and peaceful parades,” Pritzker stated. “Let’s be clear, the terror and cruelty is the point, not the safety of anyone living here.”
NCS’s Emma Tucker contributed to this report.