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09/02/2025 — WHAT WE’VE HEARD TODAY
3:57 p.m.
Pritzker closed the press conference, stating that he, Mayor Johnson, state police and the Chicago Police Department would be vigilant in their efforts to protect constituents ahead of a deployment of ICE agents as Mexican Independence Day celebrations gear up.
The holiday is on Sept. 16. Many celebrations take place across Chicago on the days leading up to the actual holiday.
“[We] are going to be on guard thinking about how do we preserve the lives of and the livelihoods of and protect the people of the city of Chicago in a circumstance where they’re simply celebrating their heritage,” Pritzker said. “It shouldn’t be interrupted in this way. This is an aim of this government. They don’t actually care if you’re here and undocumented. They just care if your skin color is a little off [from] theirs, and that you’re Latino. They’re going to just target you without knowing anything.”
As Trump continues with threats of possible federal deployment, activists across Chicago are informing locals and others at risk of their rights and creating mutual aid hubs. They are looking to Los Angeles and Washington D.C., on how to stay safe.
There has yet to be confirmation on when troops would make their way to Chicago. In a press conference days ago, Johnson said Trump’s increased federal presence could begin on Sept. 5.
Read below for updates from live announcements made on Sept. 2 from elected officials in Illinois and Chicago, as well as from Trump during a live announcement from the White House.
3:55 p.m.
In response to Trump stating “we’re going in” as pertains to sending troops to Chicago, Raoul said: “’We’re going in’ is not enough. No, we don’t know the this particular factual basis that he would be suggesting to federalize the guard, and so we have to be able to respond to facts, not predicting what he’s going to be relying upon and what they’re going to be doing specifically.”
Pritzker said that they have “pretty good sources” that the Trump administration has gathered ICE agents and military vehicles, and that there are more ICE agents that are on the way.
Trump has touted that after federal troops were sent to Washington, D.C., crime has been reduced — although, prior to his troop deployment, D.C.’s mayor reported that crime was down in the district. In response to a question to address this claim, Johnson said no one is asking for this in Chicago and that “the vast majority of the interactions were for traffic stops and misdemeanors.”
“The amount of money that is being spent by the federal government. If we were to have those resources in Chicago right now, I could reopen every single clinic that was closed. I can hire, I can hire every single young person that was looking for a job. We could double the amount of individuals who are serving CVI workers.”
The cost for the National Guard in Washington D.C. was estimated to be roughly $1 million a day.
3:44 p.m.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot appeared on CNN this afternoon. She backed Mayor Brandon Johnson in saying that crime numbers are down and Chicago needs the federal government to assist with the illegal flow of guns to the city.
“We can’t ignore that, because the president is making up his own facts,” Lightfoot said about Trump.
She condemns Trump sending in military forces, which are not training in local and constitutional policing. She added that if Trump wants to help, he can fund more police officers in Chicago, but those police officers must be under local control.
At the press conference Attorney General Kwame Raoul said that Trump’s threats to deploy federal troops are illegal.
“Although the President does have limited, and I repeat, limited, authority to deploy the National Guard to help federal law enforcement in specific circumstances. None of these circumstances exist in Chicago; we are not being invaded by a foreign nation. There is no rebellion against the federal government, as there was on January 6. There does not exist an inability to enforce federal law in Chicago; federal courts are open, federal criminal cases are being prosecuted and investigated.”
Raoul said Trump was not serious about preventing crime.
“If President Trump were serious about fighting crime, he would not be cutting funding to proven community violence interruption efforts. If President Trump were serious about fighting crime, I would not have sued him two weeks ago, sued the Department of Justice two weeks ago for threatening to deprive resources for victims of crime based on unrelated immigration criteria.”
“Since the outset of my tenure as Attorney General, I and other local law enforcement partners have worked closely with federal law enforcement partners, including FBI, ATF, Secret Service and others, to investigate and prosecute criminal activity in Illinois.”
3:32 p.m.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle slams Trump’s motivations during the press conference, “crime prevention is not his true agenda. The President is reducing resources that are working while undercutting local efforts.”
Preckwinkle listed what she believes should be passed by the Trump administration to help citizens.
“We need the Trump administration to pass bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform, restore community violence intervention grants, lower the cost of goods impacted by tariffs and restore cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that take away health care coverage and food from the table.”
3:27 p.m.
Mayor Brandon Johnson added during the press conference that Chicago would continue to have a gun problem due to the gun laws in red states. Johnson also questioned Trump on his cuts to programs that prevent gun violence.
“Why did Trump cut $468 million from ATF budget in his nasty signature bill? Why did he cut funding for the agency responsible for getting guns off our streets by almost 30% Why did he cut 1465 positions from an agency that is so critical to reducing gun violence?”
“As long as red states continue to have a gun problem, shootings will continue. As long as this presidential administration continues to put politics over people. We have sued Glock over their semi-automatic guns that are easily converted into automatic weapons with switches,” Johnson said.
The city filed a lawsuit against Glock alleging that the gun manufacturer “unreasonably endangers Chicagoans by manufacturing and selling in the Chicago civilian market semiautomatic pistols that can easily be converted to illegal machine guns.”
3:18 p.m.
Pritzker says that he and local officials are prepared to fight troop deployments in court. Urging Chicagoans to document actions and look out for one another.
“We will do everything possible to ensure that agents operating inside the confines of this state do so in a legal and ethical manner. To Chicagoans, what you can do is look out for your communities and your neighbors, know your rights. Film things that you see happening in the neighborhoods and your streets and share them with the news media. Authoritarians thrive on your silence.”
3:10 p.m.
Pritzker warns Chicagoans about what they can expect to see if armed federal agents are deployed to Chicago, comparing it to what has happened in Washington D.C. and Los Angeles.
“It is likely those agents will be with ICE Customs and Border Patrol, the Department of Homeland Security and other similarly situated federal agencies. Many of these individuals are being relocated from Los Angeles for deployment in Chicago. We believe that staging that has already begun started yesterday and continues into today.”
Pritzker added that his administration has reason to believe that the Trump administration has begun preparing the Texas National Guard for deployment in Illinois.
“We believe that they will pick up all those resources that they send here to Chicago and send them to the next city in a blue state, ignoring cities in red states with higher violent crime rates.”
3:06 p.m.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker begins his press conference saying he would not be asking Trump to bring federal troops to Chicago.
“I’m aware that the President of the United States likes to go on television and beg me to call and ask him for troops, I find this extraordinarily strange as Chicago does not want troops on our streets.”
“Rumors have been swirling about what the White House has planned, and sifting fact from fiction has been increasingly difficult because Donald Trump’s administration is not working in coordination with the city of Chicago, Cook County or the state of Illinois.”
Pritzker’s comments come after Trump has said that Pritzker should be begging him for his help in addressing Chicago’s crime problem.
We’re unable to embed Pritzker’s press conference video onto this page. But you can click here to watch it.
2:48 p.m.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has criticized Trump for making cuts to funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Cuts to the bureau have been criticized for improperly funding law enforcement in their efforts to target gun violence.
With the passing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement is set to become the largest police force in America, with $170 billion allocated to the agency.
2:20 p.m.
Trump said he wants Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) to call him and ask for help.
Trump said today that Chicago “is a hellhole,” but Chicago is seeing historic lows in crime and tourism is up. According to data from the Chicago Police Department, the city has experienced a 32% reduction in homicides, a 36% drop in shootings and a 36% decrease in robberies from last year.
Mainstream media outlets have reported Labor Day weekend crime tallies for Chicago. Fifty-eight people were reportedly shot and eight were killed. Trump is using those statistics to fuel his insistence on sending the feds and troops to Chicago.
“I say, that’s not this country. We have to do something,” Trump said about seeing Chicago’s crime numbers.
Local policymakers have slammed Trump for his administration’s slashing of funds for gun violence prevention that totaled $158 million.
2:08 p.m.
In an answer to a question about whether he has decided to send the National Guard to Chicago, Trump said he hasn’t said when he would bring in the National Guard to Chicago, but said “we’re going in.”
“Chicago is a hellhole right now. Baltimore is a hellhole right now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“We’re going in,” Trump said about Chicago. “I didn’t say when, but we’re going in.”
Trump also said, again, that he’s seeing Black Chicagoans on TV news broadcasts, begging for him to come into Chicago to address the city’s crime.
1:57 p.m.
Jennings ended his radio show with Trump speaking about Chicago. Trump called Chicago “a mess.” He said Mayor Brandon Johnson is a “low IQ person.”
Jennings asked Trump if he’ll send in federal agents and troops. Trump said, “I don’t want to mention when, but it’s going to be happening there.”
Trump also said people need to have respect for law enforcement, and that law enforcement will be respected.
1:53 p.m.
Trump announces the headquarters for the U.S. Space Command will move to Huntsville, Alabama, from its temporary location in Colorado.
1:47 p.m.
White House live stream is now available.
1:34 p.m.
Trump appeared on The Scott Jennings Radio Show, which is airing live right now from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. eastern. The interview apparently took place earlier today. At 9:40 a.m. central, Jennings posted on Twitter that he’d “just got off the phone with PRESIDENT TRUMP.”
1:27 p.m.
Trump still has not gone live from the Oval Office. No live feed is currently displayed on the White House YouTube page.
1:12 p.m.
Newsweek reports that the Department of Homeland Security is offering bonuses to local police departments that aid in immigration enforcement. According to the publication, Homeland Security will offer “performance bonuses” to state and local departments starting Oct. 1, with bonuses tied to “the successful location of illegal aliens provided by ICE and overall assistance to further ICE’s mission to Defend the Homeland.”
1:00 p.m.
Ahead of his public announcement scheduled for 1:00 p.m., media reports have come out that, among wanting to rename the Department of Defense to the Department of War, Trump is expected to announce changes to the U.S. Space Command location from Colorado to Alabama.
It’s unclear at this time if Trump will mention any updates related to his threats to send the feds to Chicago.
There are going to be some press conferences happening this afternoon.
President Donald Trump, amid health rumors, is going to make an announcement from the Oval Office today at 1:00 p.m. central, according to the White House. According to the New York Times, the announcement is related to the Department of Defense.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker will hold a press conference right after Trump’s, beginning at 3:00 p.m. According to the governor’s office, the presser will address “the people of Illinois amid reports of federal deployments to Chicago.”
The TRiiBE will share both press conference videos on this article page.
This morning, the Associated Press reported that a federal judge ruled that Trump’s administration violated federal law by using National Guard troops to quell immigration protests in Southern California this summer.
Trump has incessantly threatened to send federal agents and troops to Chicago to, in his words, get the city’s crime in order. In a message directed at Pritzker, Trump posted to Truth Social over the weekend that the Illinois governor “better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!”
Pritzker, on CBS News, said Trump has ulterior motives, including testing out the use of federal troops to stop or take control of the 2026 elections.
In Chicago, organizers also have a preparedness plan to protest once the feds arrive in Chicago.
The Coalition Against the Trump Agenda, along with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights, have an emergency protest plan called “Chicago Says No Trump, No Troops.”
This protest will take place at the corner of Ida B. Wells Drive and Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago:
- “If Federal Troops are deployed before 3 p.m., we’ll march at 5 p.m. that same day.”
- “If Federal Troops are deployed after 3 p.m., we’ll march at 5 p.m. the next day.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
