Governor Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other state and local leaders have shared new details about what they believe is President Trump's plan to send federal forces into Chicago, and repeated their insistence that National Guard or active-duty military troops are not needed here.
About an hour after the President told reporters in the Oval Office he would send federal forces to Chicago, referring to the city as "a hellhole right now," Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson joined other elected leaders at state offices in the West Loop Tuesday afternoon to spell out what they've learned about what form that intervention may take.
"In the coming days, we expect to see what has played out in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. to happen here in Chicago," said the Governor, citing a call from a Customs and Border Protection administrator as well as reporting from members of the news media.
Pritzker said the Administration began sending ICE agents and military vehicles to the Chicago area yesterday. Many of those resources came from Los Angeles and are being staged on federal property here, including Naval Station Great Lakes in the northern suburbs.
"Unidentifiable agents in unmarked vehicles ... are planning to raid Latino communities and say they're targeting violent criminals," the Governor said, noting that just as in Los Angeles, many of the people targeted by that action will be law-abiding citizens.
Pritzker also said there are indications that the timing of the action is designed deliberately to coincide with Mexican Independence Day-themed events in the Chicago area this weekend.
"We have been told ICE will try and disrupt community picnics and peaceful parades," the Governor said. "Let's be clear: the terror and cruelty is the point."
Lt. Governor Julianna Stratton also addressed the issue, suggesting that members of the area's Latiné community may need to make some hard choices.
"That will mean skipping celebrations, avoiding certain places and keeping in constant contact with loved ones," Stratton said.
Mayor Johnson repeated his call for the government to restore funding for violence-prevention programs, and to do more to stop the flow of guns into Chicago from so-called red states, suggesting that the Administration was focused on "the wrong border."
And Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle called on people in the area to stand up - peacefully - against federal troops.
"The streets of Chicago belong to the residents of Chicago," Preckwinkle said.