CHICAGO — President Donald Trump’s military brass is planning a deployment of armed forces to Chicago, a move that Gov. JB Pritzker rebuked as unnecessary and an abuse of presidential power, according to the Washington Post.

The Post reported Saturday that Pentagon officials have for weeks been planning a deployment to Chicago that could involve sending thousands of National Guard troops to the city as early as September. Deploying active-duty troops has also been considered, the paper reported.

The reporting comes one day after Trump on Friday said Chicago could be the next city to see a military deployment. The president deployed 2,000 armed National Guard troops to patrol Washington, D.C., earlier this month, saying the move will reduce crime and homelessness despite the city posting a 30-year low in its crime rate.

“I think Chicago will be our next, and then we’ll help with New York,” Trump said in the Oval Office Friday. “Chicago’s a mess. You have an incompetent mayor. Grossly incompetent.”

Pritzker said in a statement Saturday that the state has not been asked by federal officials if law enforcement help is needed, nor has the state made such a request.

“There is no emergency that warrants the President of the United States federalizing the Illinois National Guard, deploying the National Guard from other states, or sending active activity duty military within our own borders,” Pritzker said. “Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform, and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson said Friday that Trump’s threat of military action in Chicago is “uncoordinated, uncalled for, and unsound.”

“Unlawfully deploying the National Guard to Chicago has the potential to inflame tensions between residents and law enforcement when we know that trust between police and residents is foundational to building safer communities,” Johnson said in a statement. “An unlawful deployment would be unsustainable and would threaten to undermine the historic progress we have.”

The mayor went on to cite 2025 crime statistics, which show a 30 percent reduction in homicides, a 35 percent reduction in robberies and a nearly 40 percent drop in shootings.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and Gov. JB Pritzker at a news conference about the Democratic National Convention security perimeter at the United States Secret Service Chicago field office on July 25, 2024. Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

It’s not the first time Trump has threatened this. Earlier this month, the president hinted that Chicago and other major cities could be the target of a National Guard deployment. Trump said Democrat-led cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago could also see a similar response — even though each of them, as well as D.C., has recently seen significant declines in violent crime.

Since Washington, D.C., is not a state, the federal government can exercise additional authority over its police and other affairs, according to the Washington Post. But the legality of sending troops to states has been questioned.

There’s an ongoing court case challenging the Trump administration’s decision to send thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to Los Angeles in June during protests over immigration raids.

That deployment was initially ruled illegal, but it was later allowed to continue by an appeals court. Most troops have since left the city, according to The New York Times.

Bringing troops to Chicago is just Trump’s latest effort to “move our nation toward authoritarianism,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement.

“His actions are not just un-American,” Raoul said in a statement. “They are unwise strategically. Our cities are not made safer by deploying the nation’s service members for civilian law enforcement duties when they do not have the appropriate training.”

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