ENGLEWOOD — President Donald Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to Chicago to combat crime and homelessness has been a topic of much discussion this week among Englewood resident Pamela Mondane and her neighbors.
Some neighbors have told Mondane they support troops coming to the city. After experiencing violent incidents, they “feel something radical has to happen to get a radical change,” Mondane said.
Mondane, who just returned from Washington, D.C., is much less supportive of the idea.
During her visit last weekend to D.C., where Trump has deployed nearly 2,000 armed National Guard troops, Mondane saw what she described as “troublesome” behavior, including guards throwing away people’s tents while clearing a homeless encampment.
“I’m concerned about that because treating the most vulnerable people in our society like that is problematic to me. When you lead with fear, you get fearful results,” she said.
Chicago and state elected officials have blasted Trump’s proposed plan as unconstitutional and an abuse of federal power, with Gov. JB Pritzker vowing to fight it in court. Mayor Brandon Johnson has pointed to a 30 percent drop in homicides and nearly 40 percent decline in shooting victims this year as evidence that Chicago is making progress on its own and isn’t the war zone Trump is making it out to be.
Still, Chicago leaders are bracing for the deployment of federal troops — and possibly a large-scale immigration crackdown — as early as next week. Meanwhile, emotions and debate are stirring among residents as to whether the guard’s presence will do more harm than good.
While the National Guard will have limited power to act as law enforcement in Chicago, some Chicagoans say troops would bring a much-needed sense of order. Others fear a military presence would inflame tensions and paint the city as unsafe.
Block Club Chicago reporters spent a day talking with residents in the city’s South and West side neighborhoods most affected by gun violence, as well as people living Downtown, where the National Guard is likely to be deployed. The conversations revealed a mix of fear, skepticism and frustration not reflected in any one crime statistic.
‘Band-Aid On The Problem’
Amena Muhammad has lived across the South Side, first in Auburn Gresham, then Englewood, before settling in West Chatham over 20 years ago. Today, she leads the 79th and Harvard Avenue Block Club, where she and her neighbors run a “phone tree” to report suspicious activity.
That kind of connection is what keeps the block safe, she said.
“Trump wants to paint the picture that all Democratic cities are out of control, and that’s just not true,” Muhammad said. “Chicago has its problems, but don’t we all? We don’t need the National Guard. Not in the neighborhoods.”
Tamuela Miller, an Englewood resident for 20 years, disagrees. Englewood needs “all boots on the ground,” she said.
Miller said she’s in favor of the National Guard coming to the city if it can prevent crime.
“I come from a neighborhood where we have kids getting shot and we can’t utilize the stores,” Miller said. “If the National Guard can help save one person, isn’t that what we asked for?”
Other South Side neighbors said continued investment in the community and existing programs would be a more effective way of addressing gun violence and other crime.
Sending the National Guard to the city will only “put a Band-Aid on the problem instead of getting to the root of it,” Mondane said.
‘They Don’t Care For The People’
In Austin on the West Side, Lawrence Calloway worries that issues Chicagoans already have with local police will only be exacerbated by the National Guard, which has no community ties, he said.
“We complain about officers serving and protecting our community, but this is martial law,” he said. “They don’t care for the people; [they’re] just here to do a job.”
Investing in schools and youth activities would do far more to address the root of crime, said Calloway, a father of five.
“You took music out of schools. Now they don’t have instruments — they have drugs and they have guns,” he said. “Sports are not important anymore. We’re shutting down schools, and we don’t have enough teachers.”
Longtime Austin resident Mary Reed said troops might provide short-term relief but no lasting impact in her neighborhood.
The National Guard “might help while they’re here, but once they’re gone, what is going to be done about crime? That’s a problem right there,” she said.
Theresa Bragg, a lifelong Austin resident and mental health technician, said some of her coworkers support Trump’s plan because “they feel that the crime is worse.” But she doesn’t believe troops are the solution. Like Calloway, Reed and other neighbors, she wants to see the federal government invest in long-term resources like housing and schools, she said.
Jimmy Gaither, a lifelong North Lawdale resident, dismissed Trump’s threat of deployment as a political ploy, while some of his older neighbors welcome the idea, he said.
Even if Trump does send the National Guard to Chicago, Gaither doesn’t think they’ll be in areas where violence is most severe.
“The military is not going to come in on Madison and Pulaski,” Gaither said. “In Washington, D.C., they did not go into the crime-ridden areas. So what’s the use of bringing them in?”
Safer For Some
Lance Williams, a professor at Northeastern Illinois University who works with violence intervention groups across Chicago, said he doesn’t think the National Guard will help combat crime over the long term in Chicago — especially if, like in D.C., troops are mostly concentrated Downtown. Since being deployed, troops in D.C. have largely been guarding landmarks and making low-level arrests, according to media reports.
Julie Pacheco, a lifelong Chicagoan and River North resident, worries a military presence Downtown would only make Chicago seem more dangerous than it is.
Pacheco was living in River North in 2020 when the National Guard was called in to help manage civil unrest after Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. It felt “odd” and “excessive” then and would feel even more so now, she said.
“It’s not like Gotham, like Batman. Especially Downtown — there’s literally nothing happening. People are shopping, people are eating, people are going out,” Pacheco said. “The perspective that Chicago needs excessive force is a propagated narrative.”
Christina Lindsay, who has lived Downtown since 1997, has had a different experience. A lifelong Chicagoan, she used to walk to Rush Street for a cocktail and then walk back to her apartment, but not anymore.
Just last week, Lindsay watched a woman get knocked down and robbed of her purse at about 10:30 a.m., an attack that left her shaken, she said.
“It is very scary, especially as an elderly person. I can’t run anymore. … I don’t have a concealed carry. I don’t have pepper spray,” she said.
So when Lindsay heard Trump’s plan to send federal troops to Chicago, she was relieved.
“I would welcome them, because the presence, I think, would be a deterrent,” she said. “I would feel safer.”
Disruption To Downtown’s Recovery
The Chicago Loop Alliance, a nonprofit that promotes and manages Downtown’s State Street corridor, has spent five years trying to repair the Loop’s image after the National Guard was deployed in 2020 at the request of then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Hundreds of Guard members patrolled Downtown, monitored access points and guarded commercial corridors. The guardsmen had to be accompanied by state police because they did not have set rules of engagement with civilians or the authority to arrest and detain people, according to a February 2021 Office of the Inspector General report on how Chicago responded to the unrest.
While the Loop Alliance believed the guard was necessary then, the group does not believe it is needed now, citing decreased crime and recovery along the corridor.
“There’s been an increased investment in the Loop, particularly on State Street — over 30 new businesses opening or coming soon just in 2025,” said Ariella Gibson, director of communications and marketing for the Loop Alliance. “A significant police or troop presence is not welcoming. It would be detrimental to the success and recovery we’ve been working toward for half a decade.”
Prominent River North restaurant owner Sam Sanchez, a vocal Trump supporter, echoed that sentiment. He warned that a deployment would deter customers and ultimately devastate restaurants.
Sanchez pointed to Washington, D.C., where restaurants have seen a 31 percent decrease in customers since troops were deployed compared to the same time last year, according to data from the reservation platform OpenTable cited by The Guardian.
While Chicago residents deserve safety, using troops sends the wrong message and risks driving away people at a time when restaurants are still struggling to recover, Sanchez said.
“I’ve been a big supporter of law and order. But I want the federal prosecution of gun charges,” Sanchez said. “I don’t need the military. The military can’t prosecute.”
Aisha Oliver, an Austin native and founder of Root2Fruit Youth Foundation, has spent nearly two decades working to prevent violence on the West Side by helping bridge divides between rival gangs.
The Austin Safety Action Plan Safe Zone, which Oliver leads, is the city’s first official safe zone, covering several blocks between Lake and Ohio streets and Waller and Parkside avenues. It offers year-round programs on violence prevention and career development, serving as a neutral ground where feuding gangs can safely coexist.
This work cannot be replaced by federal troops, Oliver said. She sees Trump’s plan as “performative and ego-driven.”
“None of this is to address any type of crime or violence. … This is more about wanting to have control,” Oliver said. “He has no true stake here, even as President.”
Jahmal Cole, founder of My Block My Hood My City, said deploying troops would only escalate tensions and disrupt years of work by grassroots groups like his and others. My Block My Hood My City works with students to reduce gun violence through “primary prevention,” a tactic that shows kids better so they’ll do better.
Cole, a South Side resident, has been a victim of gun violence twice, he said. He became emotional as he described Trump’s plan as a “slap in the face.”
“It’s actually disrespectful to come into a city — where people like me have been working for 20 years — with the military and say, ‘We’re trying to help you,’” Cole said.
Gun violence is caused by a mixture of racial and economic injustice, high incarceration rates, poor neighborhoods, under-resourced schools and unemployment, Cole said. The focus should be on identifying the organizations addressing those issues, finding out what’s working and expanding their programs to help more people, he said.
“Real change is not going to come from bringing more rifles on top of rifles,” he said. “It’s going to come from within the community, and we have to invest in people, not just street patrol.”
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