Chicago mayor: 'We do not want' federal occupation as Naval Station Great Lakes reportedly to stage agents

Alice Yin, Chicago Tribune on Sep 2, 2025

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CHICAGO — Mayor Brandon Johnson decried President Donald Trump as inhumane Thursday evening following reports of a major immigration sweep starting imminently in Chicago.

Speaking at a North Side town hall, the mayor again warned it would be “unconstitutional” and “illegal” for the federal government to send troops to patrol the city’s streets and vowed to uphold Chicago’s longstanding sanctuary city policy for immigrants.

“The city of Chicago is emphatically clear that we do not want our streets occupied by federal troops,” Johnson said. “Unless there’s a warrant, these federal agents do not have the right and the authority to bullguard their way through our institutions, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that we stand up to tyranny.”

He spoke to a Rogers Park church hours after a New York Times article reported the White House was planning major immigration raids in Chicago that would entail staging more than 200 federal agents at a naval base north of the city. The team would begin touching down next Tuesday and stay for a month, per an internal memo cited by the news outlet.

For the past week, Trump’s shifting, but hostile, remarks threatening to send federal troops to Chicago next amid an ongoing, controversial deployment of about 2,000 National Guard members in Washington, D.C., have sent Illinois leaders into a frenzy. Thursday’s report confirming use of the Naval Station Great Lakes for immigration agents added further reason to believe the White House hopes to involve the military in a possible Chicago crackdown.

The mayor’s office also released a statement Thursday evening saying the possible operation was “deeply concerning” and resembled a similar strategy used in Los Angeles, where roiling protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids were met with a military response.

“We reject any attempts that put Chicagoans in danger as a means of furthering the President’s political ends,” the Johnson statement read. “In the event of enhanced immigration enforcement in Chicago, we will continue to issue guidance to all City departments and ensure that Chicagoans know their rights.”

Earlier Thursday morning, Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters he will not direct his officers to obstruct a potential federal crackdown on the streets but expressed hope that some communication with his department could lower tensions in a city already on edge. But he maintained Police Department protocol is hard to anticipate without communication from the National Guard or other military agencies, and that the situation could “change on a dime.”

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