US Vice President JD Vance said on Wednesday there were “no immediate plans” to send the National Guard into Chicago, despite President Donald Trump’s repeated statements that troops could be deployed to fight crime in the city.
“There are no immediate plans,” Vance told reporters, according to Reuters, when pressed about Trump’s comments on the timing and scale of any deployment. His remarks appeared to temper expectations after Trump told reporters Tuesday, “We’re going in. I didn’t say when, but we’re going in.”
Trump suggested his administration was still considering whether to send the National Guard to Chicago or “a place like New Orleans,” Reuters reported.
The president has made law-and-order a centerpiece of his agenda, frequently targeting Democratic-run cities. He argues Chicago exemplifies urban violence, though city officials point to recent declines in homicides, gun violence and burglaries.
Trump has already deployed the Guard to Washington, D.C., a federal district where he holds broad authority. But his power over Illinois, and therefore Chicago, is far more limited. Any troop deployment there would likely require the cooperation of state leaders or face legal challenges.
Critics say the president’s attempts to widen the military’s role on US soil amount to an expansion of executive authority that risks undermining the separation between civilian law enforcement and the armed forces.
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