President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is prepared to order federal authorities to mobilize and combat crime in Chicago and Baltimore, asserting he has an obligation to protect the country even as city and state officials in both places strongly oppose such intervention.
Asked by reporters in the Oval Office whether he would send National Guard troops to Chicago, Trump said, "We're going in," and added, "I didn't say when." He said the move would not be a political act. "I have an obligation. This isn't a political thing," he said, and repeated criticism of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson while praising Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser for cooperating with federal forces. The White House separately said more than 1,650 people have been arrested since federal officials were first mobilized on Aug. 7.
State and city leaders in Illinois and Maryland immediately rejected the prospect of federal deployments. Pritzker called Trump's suggestion that the governor might request help "unhinged" and reiterated that he would not ask the federal government to send troops to Chicago. "No, I will not call the president asking him to send troops to Chicago," Pritzker said at a news conference with Johnson and other local officials.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott also oppose federal intervention. A Moore spokesman said the governor has been clear that using the National Guard for municipal policing is "theatrical and not sustainable." Scott highlighted recent local gains in curbing gun violence and has accused the president of employing racially tinged rhetoric in targeting majority-Black cities.
Illinois officials said the state received its first contact about potential federal intervention last Saturday when the head of the Illinois State Police was called by Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol's El Centro, California, sector, who indicated immigration agents would come to Chicago; Pritzker said no further details were provided. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the state and the city would sue once any federal intervention began.
Chicago officials and community organizers said they are preparing to resist. Activist networks circulated protest plans, pastors mobilized and schools readied for heightened scrutiny. Dozens of Chicago pastors sent a letter urging the federal government to focus instead on underfunded schools and unemployment, and in the letter warned residents to prepare for resistance if federal forces arrived.
The dispute follows earlier federal deployments to other cities. The Trump administration has already federalized forces in Washington and sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles; a federal judge recently ruled that the California deployment was illegal. Trump has said he plans similar moves in other Democratic-run cities.
Trump has used spikes in shootings and homicides during recent weekends as justification for broader federal action. Chicago reported 573 homicides in 2024, the most of any U.S. city that year, and a 2024 analysis by the Rochester Institute of Technology calculated a Chicago homicide rate of 21.7 per 100,000 residents. City data show, however, that violent crime fell significantly: shootings and homicides were down more than 30% in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period a year earlier, representing the steepest decline in more than a decade.
Mayor Johnson and other local officials say Chicago's violence is driven in part by guns trafficked from neighboring states. "Chicago will continue to have a violence problem as long as red states continue to have a gun problem," Johnson said.
In Baltimore, officials point to declines in homicides and other measures of gun violence as evidence the city is making progress without federal policing. Scott noted historic lows in homicides for recent months and highlighted local strategies aimed at prevention and community investment.
The White House framed federal action as necessary to restore public safety in cities that it says have failed to control crime. Trump said his efforts in Washington have made the capital "a safe zone," adding, "We have no crime." Local officials and civil-rights advocates warn that a federalized law-enforcement presence can inflame tensions, lead to confrontations and undermine community trust.
Legal questions loom. Officials in Illinois and lawyers for civil-rights groups are likely to challenge any attempt to deploy federal forces for local policing duties, arguing that such moves exceed federal authority and could violate constitutional and statutory protections. The recent federal court decision finding the California deployment illegal underscores potential judicial obstacles.
Trump's remarks underscore a broader clash over crime and policing policy between the federal government and leaders of several large, Democratic-run cities. The debate includes disputes over the causes of urban violence, the appropriate roles of local and federal authorities, and the legal limits on deploying federal or military personnel to assist municipal police. As the parties prepare for further confrontations, residents and advocacy groups in Chicago and Baltimore are organizing responses and monitoring for any signs of federal action.
Associated Press writers Lea Skene in Baltimore and Brian Witte in Annapolis contributed to this report.