Trump says he'll send National Guard to Chicago, but details remain
unclear
[October 06, 2025]
By THOMAS PEIPERT
President Donald Trump moved to deploy the National Guard in another
city Saturday by authorizing 300 troops to protect federal officers and
assets in Chicago, where the government said Border Patrol agents shot
and injured a woman while firing at someone who tried to run them over.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson confirmed that the president
authorized using the Illinois National Guard members, citing what she
called “ongoing violent riots and lawlessness” that local leaders have
not quelled.
“President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing
American cities,” Jackson said.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said the guard received notice from the
Pentagon early in the day. He called the move unnecessary and “a
manufactured performance — not a serious effort to protect public
safety.”
“This morning, the Trump Administration’s Department of War gave me an
ultimatum: call up your troops, or we will,” Pritzker said in a
statement. “It is absolutely outrageous and un-American to demand a
Governor send military troops within our own borders and against our
will.”
Trump has long threatened to send troops to Chicago, but it was not
immediately clear when or exactly where they would be deployed.
Meanwhile the Department of Homeland Security acknowledged the shooting
of the woman on the southwest side of Chicago. It said in a statement
that Border Patrol agents “were rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10
cars,” and when they got out of their trapped vehicle, “a suspect tried
to run them over, forcing the officers to fire defensively.”
The woman who was shot was a U.S. citizen and was armed with a
semiautomatic weapon, DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said, noting
that the woman was accused in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection
intelligence bulletin last week of doxing agents.
DHS later identified her as Marimar Martinez, and said she's in FBI
custody after being treated and released from the hospital. DHS said the
driver of another vehicle involved in the ramming, Anthony Ian Santos
Ruiz, was apprehended. It's unclear if they are represented by attorneys
who could comment on their behalf.
No officers were seriously injured, McLaughlin said.
In an interview with Fox & Friends on Sunday, Homeland Security
Secretary Kristi Noem again called Chicago “a war zone" and said
protesters are being paid to disrupt operations and stir violence
against officers.
“Our intelligence indicates these people are organized and making plans
to ambush and kill them,” she said. “Somebody is funding them.″
The Chicago Police Department confirmed a shooting in the area but
offered few details, saying it responded only to “document the incident”
and control traffic.
“CPD is not involved in the incident or its investigation. Federal
authorities are investigating this shooting,” it said in a statement,
referring questions to federal officials.
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An ICE officer watches protestors as a Lenco BearCat vehicle drives
to the scene in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago, on
Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025, after protesters learned that U.S. Border
Patrol shot a woman Saturday morning on Chicago's Southwest Side.
(Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
The escalation of federal law enforcement follows similar
deployments in other parts of the country. Trump sent the National
Guard to Los Angeles over the summer and to Washington, D.C., as
part of his law enforcement takeover there. Tennessee National Guard
troops are expected to arrive in Memphis to help police.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom sued to stop the deployment in Los
Angeles and won a temporary block in federal court. The Trump
administration has appealed that ruling that the use of the guard
was illegal, and a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals has indicated that it believes the government is likely
to prevail.
Pritzker criticized the Illinois deployment for pulling the National
Guard troops away from their families and regular jobs, saying, “For
Donald Trump, this has never been about safety. This is about
control.”
He also noted that state, county and local law enforcement have been
coordinating to ensure the safety of the U.S. Immigration and
Customs Enforcement's Broadview facility on the outskirts of
Chicago.
Federal officials reported the arrests of 13 people protesting
Friday near the facility, which has been frequently targeted during
the administration’s surge of immigration enforcement this fall.
Trump also said last month that he was sending federal troops to
Portland, Oregon, calling the city war-ravaged. But local officials
have suggested that many of his claims and social media posts appear
to rely on images from 2020, when demonstrations and unrest gripped
the city following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis
police.
Oregon officials sued to stop the deployment the next day. U.S.
District Judge Karin J. Immergut heard arguments Friday and
temporarily blocked the Trump administration on Saturday from
deploying the guard in Portland. Immergut was appointed by Trump
during his first term in office.
Immergut issued the order pending further arguments in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs said a deployment would violate the U.S. Constitution
as well as a federal law that generally prohibits the military from
being used to enforce domestic laws.
Trump has federalized 200 National Guard troops in the state, but so
far it does not appear that they have moved into Portland. They have
been seen training on the coast in anticipation of a deployment.
___
Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone and Margery A. Beck
contributed.
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