Trump’s planned Chicago blitz would use naval base to house ICE agents, possibly National Guard

Federal immigration agents and possibly National Guard troops would operate out of a suburban naval base for much of next month as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to target Chicago, officials have been told.

Agents with the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection would be housed at Naval Station Great Lakes near North Chicago from Sept. 2-30, according to an email Monday from Navy Cpt. Stephen Yargosz to his leadership team.

“These operations are similar to what occurred in Los Angeles earlier this summer. Same DHS team,” wrote Yargosz, the commanding officer of Naval Station Great Lakes. “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.”

He said the operation would focus on “downtown Chicago,” and a formal “request for assistance” still required approval from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

Two sources with knowledge of the email confirmed it’s authentic.

Trump has threatened to send troops to Chicago to get a handle on what he has characterized as rampant crime and lawlessness — a move that Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson have deemed unnecessary given that crime has fallen significantly.

Johnson and Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth said they hadn’t gotten any information about the planning.

“We know that Donald Trump bringing in ICE and other federal enforcement to Chicago isn’t about ‘law and order’ because he is once again refusing to coordinate with our local officials,” said Duckworth, a retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel who lost her legs in an attack on her helicopter during the Iraq War.

“Forcing the military, uninvited, into Chicago to intimidate Americans in their own communities does not make our nation stronger, it simply distracts the military from executing its core mission of keeping Americans safe from real adversaries who wish us harm. 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.”

Durbin said state and 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,” Durbin said. “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.”

Pritzker’s office declined to comment. But on Monday, the governor dismissed the notion that Trump’s threats had anything to do with public safety.

“If this was really about fighting crime and making the streets safe, what possible justification could the White House have for planning such an exceptional action without any conversations or consultations with the governor, the mayor or the police?” Pritzker said at a news conference alongside other lawmakers.

The White House wouldn’t comment, deferring to immigration officials. DHS, ICE and CBP didn’t respond to questions. Neither did the Defense Department.

In recent days, Trump has vacillated between bluster, disparagement and deference to Pritzker. The president renewed his threats on Tuesday, saying Pritzker should be asking for his support — just a day after he said he wouldn’t send federal resources unless the governor requested help.

“I’m not a dictator, I just know how to stop crime,” Trump said at a televised cabinet meeting. “But [Pritzker] should be calling me and he should be saying, ‘Could you send over the troops, please? It’s out of control.’”

Pritzker, Johnson and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul have said they are exploring all legal options in the face of a possible federal deployment to Chicago.

Trump has already federalized the police force in Washington, D.C. and has deployed federal law enforcement agents and thousands of National Guard troops, some carrying firearms, to the nation’s capitol to make stops and arrests.

In June, 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines were deployed in Los Angeles to quell protests against federal immigration arrests, according to the Associated Press. Between 250 and 300 guard troops remain and have been activated through November, though California has sued the Trump administration over the deployment.

Chicago was top on Trump’s list as a potential next target for a military takeover, along with several other Democrat-led cities, such as New York and Baltimore. The Washington Post recently reported that the Pentagon had been planning a military intervention in Chicago for weeks.

The scale and legality of the planned operation and the role of staff at the base remained unclear, according to a source with knowledge of the planning

Another source familiar with the plan told the Sun-Times about 30 to 40 ICE agents had been practicing riot control tactics at the military installation for months, using flash-bang grenades and marching in phalanxes with shields. The source said the planned operation would likely involve more agents than had been previously running drills, noting that the barracks can house 200 people.

Federal agents would be given control of Building 617, which houses the Navy College Learning Center and the Morale, Welfare and Recreation Library, according to Yargosz’s email.

He told his staff to “stay clear of DHS vehicles and equipment and act professionally.”