‘Do Not Come To Chicago’: Democrat Leaders Beg Trump Not to Send National Guard to Clean up Crime-Ridden City

(DCNF)—Democrat Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Democrat Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson held a press conference Monday, pleading with President Donald Trump not to send the National Guard into Chicago to address crime.

While speaking with the press on Friday, Trump said he was considering sending National Guard troops to Chicago after deploying them in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 11. Addressing the press and public, Pritzker spoke before Johnson to say that while city leaders sometimes disagree, they had come together to push back on the president’s initiative.

“Look at the people assembled before you today, behind me,” Pritzker said. “This is a full cross-section of Chicago’s leaders from the business world, the faith community, law enforcement, education, community organizations, and more. We sometimes disagree on how to effectively solve the many challenges that our state and our city face on a daily basis. But today we are standing here united, in public, in front of the cameras, unafraid to tell the president that his proposed actions will make our jobs harder and the lives of our residents worse.”

“Earlier today in the Oval Office, Donald Trump looked at the assembled cameras and asked for me personally to say, ‘Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city?’ Instead, I say, Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here. Your remarks about this effort over the last several weeks have betrayed a continuing slip in your mental faculties and are not fit for the auspicious office that you occupy,” Pritzker added.

In an attempt to convince the public that Chicago’s crime is under control, Pritzker visited a noticeably low-crime area of the city earlier on Monday. The Democratic governor posted a video to his X account showing the nicer part of the city as he insisted that Chicago is in no way a “hellhole.”

Johnson went on to address the public and press after the Democratic governor, saying that Chicago residents do not want the National Guard deployed to the city as he touted the city’s decreasing crime statistics.

“We are being targeted because of who we are as a city more than anything else. We are a shining example of what happens when working people stand together. The last thing that Chicagoans want is someone from the outside of our city who doesn’t know our city try to dictate and tell us what our city needs,” Johnson said.

“As the mayor of this city, I can tell you that Chicagoans are not calling for military occupation,” Johnson added. “They are calling for the same thing that we’ve been calling for for some time and that’s investment. What safe cities across America all have in common, they invest in people, and that’s what we’re doing in Chicago.”

According to the Chicago Tribune, there have been 262 homicides as of Aug. 25 in the city so far in 2025, which is 117 fewer than in 2024. Additionally, total violent crime reportedly decreased in Chicago by 22% in the first half of 2025 compared to the same time last year.

Trump announced the deployment of National Guard troops and the invocation of Section 40 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act in early August for the nation’s capitol, following a slew of crimes in Washington, D.C., that had drawn national attention.

While Democrats and legacy media pundits have said Washington, D.C.’s crime dropped 35% in 2024, citing local police data, the statistics left out crimes such as felony and aggravated assault. In July, the Metropolitan Police Department said an investigation was opened against D.C. police Commander Michael Pulliam for allegedly altering crime statistics in his district, according to NBC Washington.

Democrats have continued to rally against Trump’s crackdown on crime. A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll released Monday reported that 54% of registered voters said Trump’s crime-fighting efforts in the nation’s capital are “justified and necessary.”