White House seeks to use Chicago-area military base for ‘sanctuary cities’ crackdown

The White House has requested that a US military base on the outskirts of Chicago assist with immigration operations as the Trump administration plans a broader takeover of Democratic-run “sanctuary cities”.

On Thursday, the Naval Station Great Lakes (NSGL) confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security had reached out for assistance, telling the Associated Press that the DHS had requested “limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS operations”.

An NSGL spokesperson told the outlet that no decisions have been made regarding the request and that the base has not yet received any official request to support a national guard deployment. The Guardian has reached out to the NSGL for comment.

In a statement to the Guardian, a DHS spokesperson said: “President Trump has been clear: we are going to make our streets and cities safe again. Across the country, DHS law enforcement are arresting and removing the worst of worst including gang members, murderers, pedophiles, and rapists that have terrorized American communities. Under secretary [Kristi] Noem, ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and CBP [Customs and Border Protection] are working overtime to deliver on the American people’s mandate to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again.”

The signal from the Trump administration comes just a few weeks after the president directed a federal takeover of Washington DC – deploying the national guard, taking over the police department, and ramping up immigration raids and deportations in the city.

On Thursday, Trump’s “border czar”, Tom Homan, commented on what could be the government’s next move.

“You’re going to see a ramp-up of operations continue in New York, operations continuing in LA … Portland, Seattle, all these sanctuary cities that refuse to work with Ice, where we know public safety threats are being released every day into this country,” he said.

Chicago, specifically, has been the target of much of Trump’s ire, including a Truth Social post over the weekend about homicides in the city, in which he said: “Can this be possible? The people are desperate for me to STOP THE CRIME, something the Democrats aren’t capable of doing.” The city’s mayor, Brandon Johnson, and the Illinois governor, JB Pritzker, have repeatedly defended the city and its recent drop in crime.

On Wednesday, the Chicago Sun Times first reported about the DHS’s request for the naval base, citing an email from commanding officer Capt Stephen Yargosz to his leadership team.

“These operations are similar to what occurred in Los Angeles earlier this summer. Same DHS team,” Yargosz wrote, adding: “This morning I received a call that there is the potential to also support National Guard units. Not many details on this right now. Mainly a lot of concerns and questions.”

According to Yargosz, law enforcement officers with the DHS, Ice and CBP will be stationed at the military base from 2 to 30 September.

Speaking to the Chicago Sun Times, Illinois leaders pushed back against the idea of federal enforcement being deployed to the largely Democratic city.

“Forcing the military, uninvited, into Chicago to intimidate Americans in their own communities does not make our nation stronger,” said the senator Tammy Duckworth. “It’s yet another unwarranted, unwanted and unjust move straight out of the authoritarian’s playbook that will only undermine our military’s readiness and ultimately weaken our national security.”

Echoing similar sentiments, the senator Dick Durbin told the Chicago Sun Times that local leaders “have not asked for or consented to President Trump bringing in the military to ‘save’ our city”.

“And now he reportedly wants to further abuse his power, waste government resources, and undermine military readiness by using Naval Station Great Lakes as a center of his operation in Illinois … May I remind the president that deploying the military to Chicago, and derailing critical operations at Naval Station Great Lakes, would be both unhelpful and illegal,” said Durbin.

Pritzker, said in a press conference on Wednesday that he has not yet received any communication from the White House about a potential federal deployment.

“I want to be clear, we have received no calls from the White House, from the federal government, from anybody who might be in charge of some sort of troop movement,” said Pritzker. The Guardian has reached out to Pritzker’s office for comment.

Many Democrats have criticized Trump’s federal crackdowns.

On Sunday, the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries, accused Trump of “playing games with the lives of Americans”, adding that the president had “manufactured a crisis” to justify sending national troops into the Illinois city.

“I strongly support the statement that was issued by Governor Pritzker making clear that there’s no basis, no authority for Donald Trump to potentially try to drop federal troops into the city of Chicago,” Jeffries said.