By Illinois Review
At a dramatic Monday afternoon press conference in downtown Chicago – flanked by nearly every major Democrat in the region – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a blunt message to President Donald Trump: “Do not come to Chicago.”
The visibly agitated governor, who laced his remarks with personal attacks on the president, vowed to punish anyone who backs Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to address the city’s violent crime crisis.
“To any federal official who would come to Chicago and try to incite my people into violence as a pretext for something darker and more dangerous, we are watching – and we are taking names,” Pritzker declared.
Chicago continues to lead the nation in murders, shootings, and youth victims, with over 90 percent of violent offenders still on the streets, most never caught or charged. The city also struggles with a severe police shortage, leaving more than 1,600 positions unfilled and fewer officers to patrol and protect communities.
In 2023, over 225,000 high-priority 911 calls went unanswered because Chicago doesn’t have enough police officers on the streets to respond.
After the governor’s remarks, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who holds the lowest approval rating of any mayor in history at just 6 percent, took the podium and declared, “We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence… It’s racist! It’s immoral! It’s unholy!”
Since 2022, Pritzker and Johnson have welcomed over 52,000 migrants to Chicago, regardless of their backgrounds or criminal histories, and spent more than $800 million to provide food, clothing and housing – even as many city residents continue to struggle.
