(NewsNation) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday said he received word from the Trump administration that they are intending to federalize 300 members of the Illinois National Guard.
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will. It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our will,” Pritzker said in a post on social platform X.
The plan was later confirmed by a White House spokesperson.
“Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has authorized 300 national guardsmen to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities,” they said.
The move comes as protests continue in Broadview, a neighborhood in the west suburbs outside Chicago, where an ICE facility is housed and a raid by federal authorities at an apartment complex on Chicago’s South Side earlier this week. Federal authorities said they arrested suspected Tren De Aragua members from that operation.
Federal agents were also believed to have deployed tear gas outside a grocery store in a neighborhood on the city’s northwest side during a chase on Friday.
Pritzker called it “unprecedented escalations of aggression against Illinois citizens and residents.”
“I want to be clear: there is no need for military troops on the ground in the State of Illinois,” Pritzker continued. “In Illinois, we will do everything within our power to look out for our neighbors, uphold the Constitution, and defend the rule of law.”