Duckworth Statement on Reports Trump is Planning Military Deployment to Chicago

[CHICAGO, IL] – U.S. Senator and combat Veteran Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement today amid reports that the Trump Administration is planning another inappropriate deployment of American troops into American cities, this time to Chicago, without coordinating with state or local officials and despite the state not requesting any deployment:

“It comes as no surprise Donald Trump is once again attacking Chicago, but that doesn’t change that Trump’s continuing pattern of politicizing and misusing our nation’s military for his own partisan gain and to crush dissent is deeply disturbing, is un-American and has no place in any of our cities.

“We know this isn’t about ‘law and order’ because Trump is once again refusing to coordinate with state and local officials. And if he really cared about ‘health and safety,’ he wouldn’t have cut millions of dollars in gun violence prevention funding just weeks ago. This is just another attempt to distract the American people from the price increases his own policies are causing and the various personal scandals he wants to change the subject from.

“Forcing the military, uninvited, into Chicago to intimidate Americans in their own communities does not make our nation stronger, it simply distracts the military from executing its core mission of keeping Americans safe from real adversaries who wish us harm.

“It’s yet another unwarranted, unwanted and unjust move straight out of the authoritarian’s playbook that will only undermine our military’s readiness and ultimately weaken our national security.”

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