National Guard Will No Longer Come to Chicago

President Donald Trump’s threat to send the National Guard to Chicago has resulted in no troops being sent to the city. Now, students and faculty at Loyola are grappling with the idea of what could have happened.

Instead, plans to send troops to Memphis, Tenn. are now in action, according to the president, who said both Republican Governor Bill Lee supported his plan while Democratic Mayor of Memphis, Paul Young didn’t.

The deployment will be the third time this year Trump has invoked Title 10, a power afforded to the executive to call the National Guard into active duty for a federal purpose. Memphis would succeed both Washington D.C. and Los Angeles, Calif. 

The National Guard was expected to deploy in Chicago for the purpose of reducing crime and providing an extra layer of protection for ICE officers, who have already been deployed to the city at high levels, The Associated Press reported.

Trump previously said during a visit to the Museum of Bible that his hope was to help lower Chicago’s crime rates. 

Trump said he thinks Memphis is deeply-troubled and a greater priority than Chicago. He said he still considers Chicago to be a mess when it comes to the city’s crime rates, despite the city’s 21.6% decrease in overall crime since the beginning of the year, according to the Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office.

Trump said Monday he would deploy the National Guard to Memphis after meeting with the governor of Tennessee in the Oval Office, the AP reported.

Although troops are no longer needed by the Trump administration to mobilize in Chicago, Governor JB Pritzker posted a message on X, formerly known as Twitter, Sept. 12 calling out Trump.

“It’s disturbing that the President is hellbent on sending troops onto America’s Streets,” Pritzker wrote. “Using those who serve in uniform as political props is insulting. None of this is normal.”

Before the delay of mobilization in Chicago, Pritzker held a press conference Sept. 3 to speak out against federal action in Chicago and respond to Trump’s target towards Chicago on social media.

“Chicago is about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” Trump wrote in a recent post, which included an illustration of the president impersonating the “Apocalypse Now” character Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in front of a burning Chicago. 

The post also included the caption, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” alluding to the famous “Apocalypse Now” quote. “I love the smell of napalm in the morning”.

In regards to Trump’s message to the city, some Chicago residents — including Loyola students and faculty — expressed their concerns.

Associate Professor of Political Science Dr. Twyla Blackmond Larnell said the National Guard coming to Chicago would add hostility to the current environment.

“It’s disheartening to watch the federal government use important resources against our own citizens who have done nothing violent,” Blackmond Larnell said. “It’s creating a hostile federalist system.”

Blackmond Larnell said there is a possibility of the National Guard creating city curfews and individuals being viewed as something to confine, police and supervise. She also feels Loyola students will be strong-minded on the mobilization, considering they are politically engaged.

“I imagine that this can lead to increased civic engagement and public engagement and conversations on campus,” Blackmond Larnell said.

Blackmond Larnell said the National Guard coming to Chicago would be a catalyst for more violence, anger and fear in the city and its surrounding communities, and it’s important to not be cool headed in this type of environment.

“Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator,” Pritzker wrote on X Sept. 6.

First-year elementary education major Mary Frattinger said she doesn’t think Trump’s actions don’t reflect the United States and its values.

“This is an example of straight dictatorship,” Frattinger said. “It’s a thirst for power, and it is absolutely not constitutional.”

Frattinger said she worries the deployment of the National Guard anywhere will infringe upon constitutional rights. The Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures and the right to a fair trial, are what she considered to be most at stake.

She also said she thinks National Guard mobilization will make campus tense due to fear in students.

“I think there are people who are at Loyola and are afraid to go to class,” Frattinger said. “People are afraid to leave their dorms.”

Fourth-year biology major Marvin Mendoza said he expects there to be a high level of backlash from Chicago residents if the National Guard were to ever come, with an uprising of fear in the city due to ICE’s presence in mind.

“It’s going to cost them a price,” Mendoza said. “More riots and backlash overall.”

Fourth-year political science and criminal justice major Leina Ndango said she agrees with Mendoza and feels there would be a lot of pushback.

“It’s like having a guest you didn’t invite over to your home,” Ndango said. 

Loyola’s Division of Student Development sent an email to students Sept. 9 regarding the possibility of National Guard deployment. The email assured students they are the universities top priority and will be guided as the situation evolves.

Fourth-year nursing major Destiny Stephen said if Trump were to send the National Guard, it would have a negative effect on both the community and the soldiers, regarding the lack of knowledge the National Guard has about Chicago and its layout.

Stephen said she is concerned the National Guard wouldn’t be able to handle the containment of individuals and possible protests in certain areas of Chicago in the way local law enforcement does. 

“The National Guard could be from anywhere,” Stephen said. “You don’t know anything about the city, and your objective is to come and assist in an operation that is very vague and dangerous by bringing a bunch of people with guns and high training to a city that is in no state of protest.”

Ndango said that mobilization of troops will result in the same outcome, specifically on campus.

“A lot of Loyola students are Chicago natives,” Ndango said. “Putting a force like that in a city it’s not familiar with can put people in dangerous situations.”

Stephen said the National Guard wouldn’t resolve anything in regards to the current violence in Chicago. She expects Chicago residents wouldn’t welcome the National Guard and see their presence as intrusive.

As the Trump administration is continuing its crackdown on undocumented immigrants, both residents and officials said the administration’s issue isn’t one which needs to be focused on, according to Johnson.

Johnson said the deployment of the National Guard would be unlawful, uncoordinated, uncalled for and unsound during a press conference Aug. 22.

“The National Guard will not alleviate the housing crisis,” Johnson said. “It will not put food in the stomachs of the one-in-four children that go to bed hungry every night in Chicago. The National Guard will not fully fund our public schools or provide mental healthcare or substance abuse treatment to Chicagoans in need.”

Correction: A previous version of this article stated Pritzker and Johnson said they view Trump’s threats of National Guard deployment as an opportunity to oppose the Trump Administration. The sentence was removed from the article Sept. 21, 2025 to reflect neither Pritzker or Johnson had said this.