The Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to the Department of War, requesting 100 military personnel to be sent to Illinois “claiming a need for protection of ICE personnel and facilities,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Monday.
The governor held a news conference after Border Patrol agents, some of whom were carrying rifles and wearing bulletproof vests, began patrolling prominent streets in downtown Chicago over the weekend.
“What I have been warning of is now being realized,” Pritzker said at a news briefing.
Protests at a processing facility in suburban Broadview escalated in recent days, sparking headlines nationwide, as multiple arrests were made and tear gas was deployed against demonstrators.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday that she is sending more federal troops to ICE facilities around the country.
“If you so much as touch one of our federal officers, you will go to prison,” she said.
In an exclusive interview with NBC News on Sunday, the president indicated that he is still considering sending armed National Guard troops into Chicago.
“Any place where there is big trouble, we want to go and help out,” he said, calling Chicago a “crime-ridden mess.”
Trump also said his administration sent additional FBI resources to the city earlier this year on an “information gathering mission.” He claimed credit for reductions in crime, though there is no available data tying reduced crime to the presence of FBI agents.
Late last month, Pritzker delivered a strongly worded message, warning the president not to come to Chicago, following his threats to deploy the National Guard.
President Donald Trump reposted videos showing agents in Chicago this weekend, but has yet to make a public statement on their presence.
Hundreds of people in the city and suburbs have been arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent weeks as part of a ramped-up effort to deport more individuals who the Trump administration called “criminal illegal aliens.”
from NBC Chicago https://ift.tt/f4YGCBs
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