Chicago, a city with a long and complicated history of civil unrest and federal intervention, once again finds itself at the center of a national political storm. On October 4, 2025, President Donald Trump authorized the deployment of 300 National Guard troops to Chicago, a move that has reignited fierce debate over the role of federal forces in local law enforcement and the legacy of race relations in America’s third-largest city. The deployment comes amid an intensifying federal crackdown on immigration, with federal agents already patrolling Chicago’s tourist and shopping districts, and follows a pattern of similar escalations in other Democrat-led cities like Portland, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, according to Getty Images and reporting by the Chicago Sun-Times.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has not minced words in his opposition to the deployment, promising to sue the Trump administration and accusing the president of using the National Guard as a tool of intimidation. “This is not making anybody safer — it’s a show of intimidation, instilling fear in our communities and hurting our businesses,” Pritzker said in a statement quoted by the Associated Press. He has directed state agencies to investigate reports that children were zip tied and separated from their parents during recent immigration raids, and has refused to provide any evidence that could help the federal government defend its actions in court.
For many Chicagoans, the presence of National Guard troops is a painful reminder of the city’s traumatic past. In April 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., thousands of National Guard and Army troops were deployed to Chicago’s West Side as racial tensions boiled over into violent unrest. During those days, between nine and eleven Black residents died, more than 3,000 were arrested, and about 1,000 were left homeless as hundreds of buildings were destroyed, causing $10 million in damages, as documented by the National Archives and the North Lawndale History Project. Mayor Richard J. Daley’s infamous “shoot to kill” order against arsonists and looters still reverberates in the collective memory of the city’s Black communities.
“Back in the 60s, the city, parts of this city, particularly people of colour, were traumatised by the National Guard,” Todd Jackson, an early childhood worker, told Reuters. For residents like Diane Gardner, the scars never fully healed: “They never redid the neighbourhood. It’s still destitute. I remember waiting for help but help never came. To this day, help never came.”
The Trump administration’s recent immigration crackdown has only deepened those wounds. In one high-profile raid, federal agents stormed an apartment building on Chicago’s South Side using Black Hawk helicopters, waking families in the middle of the night and detaining residents with zip ties. The Department of Homeland Security said the operation resulted in 37 arrests, but local leaders and residents described it as an act of terror. “ICE acted like an invading army in our neighbourhoods,” said Democratic state representative Lilian Jiménez. “Helicopters hovered above our homes, terrifying families and disturbing the peace of our community. These shameful and lawless actions are not only a violation of constitutional rights but of our most basic liberty: the right to live free from persecution and fear.”
Civil rights organizations have condemned the deployment as racially divisive and an attack on Black and immigrant communities. Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, accused President Trump of playing the “worst game of racially divisive politics,” while Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, stated, “Donald Trump is fixated on minority dense cities and is continuing his political bullying campaign to target them. What cities like Baltimore and Chicago need are resources and real investment, not troops in the streets.”
Adding fuel to the fire, the Trump administration slashed 365 grants totaling $811 million for community violence intervention programs in April 2025, with cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Baltimore losing funding for gun violence prevention. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has argued that these funds, along with economic investments, would do far more to reduce crime than increased policing or military presence. “The addiction on jails and incarceration in this country, we have moved past that,” Johnson said, as reported by Reuters. “It is racist, it is immoral, it is unholy, and it is not the way to drive violence down.” Johnson called for the release of the $800 million in violence prevention funds “that he [Trump] stole back in April,” and demanded more resources to halt the flow of guns into Chicago and to invest in affordable housing and community safety.
Johnson, who took office amid low approval ratings, has found his footing as a national figure by vocally opposing Trump’s policies. His appearances on MSNBC and CNN have raised his profile, and his team’s ramped-up social media efforts have made his anti-Trump messaging go viral. “This is not about public safety. This is not even about immigration,” Johnson said last week regarding expanded ICE activity. “This is a continuation of the Trump administration’s war on the poor.” On MSNBC with Chris Hayes, Johnson didn’t hold back: “He’s literally eroded what makes our democracy so critical … to be able to peacefully assemble and to ensure that every single American has the opportunity to have a vibrant, healthy life.”
Johnson has also criticized the Department of Transportation’s decision to suspend funding for the Red Line Expansion, sarcastically pointing out, “Argentina gets $20 billion and the South Side gets nothing. What happened to America First?” His energy and articulateness in national interviews have drawn praise, with some political commentators suggesting Democrats should look to him as a future presidential contender.
But Johnson’s bold stance has not come without challenges. City Democrats have criticized his administration over budgeting, schools, and his sometimes combative relationship with local media. As the city prepares for a difficult budget season with looming spending cuts, Johnson will need to leverage his newfound political capital to navigate internal divisions and deliver on promises of public safety and investment in underserved communities.
To counter the federal intervention, Johnson signed an executive order on August 30, 2025, instructing Chicago police not to cooperate with federal agents and blocking agents from wearing face coverings to conceal their identities. Governor Pritzker, meanwhile, remains adamant about taking the Trump administration to court, refusing to engage with the president directly to avoid providing any legal ammunition for the federal case. “He’s going to end up in court, and that will be a fact that they will use in court — that the governor called to ask for help, and I’m sorry I’m not going to provide him with evidence to support his desire to have the court rule in his favour. I’m just not going to do that,” Pritzker said.
As Chicago faces another turning point in its storied history, the city’s leaders and residents are determined to “hold the line” against what they see as federal overreach. The echoes of 1968 still linger, but this time, Chicago’s response is being shaped by a new generation of voices demanding investment, justice, and a future free from the trauma of the past.
