WATCH: Government Leaders, CVI Advocates Respond to Trump’s Threat to Send National Guard to Chicago
Several elected officials and Community Violence Intervention (CVI) advocates from across Illinois are putting up a united front as they respond to President Trump’s recent threats to send the National Guard to Chicago. This latest directive comes in the wake of Trump’s early August order to deploy more than 2,000 troops to Washington, D.C. to, as he says, crack down on crime, despite numbers showing violent crime has declined in the city.
In response to Trump’s message, Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement, “There is no emergency in Chicago that calls for armed military intervention that will disrupt the daily lives of our people. What President Trump is doing is unprecedented and unwarranted. It is illegal. It is unconstitutional.”
Governor Pritzker later added, “We invested historic amounts into Community Violence Intervention programs. We listened to our local communities, to the people who live and work in the places that are most affected by crime and asked them what they needed to help make their neighborhoods safer. Those strategies have been working.”
Mayor Brandon Johnson also voiced his concern in a statement, saying, “The National Guard is no substitute for dedicated local law enforcement and community violence interrupters who know and serve our communities every day. There are many things the federal government could do to help us reduce crime and violence in Chicago, but sending in the military is not one of them.”
Metropolitan Family Services President and Chief Executive Officer Ric Estrada called for the reversal of a decision to cut nearly $1 billion in CVI grants. The grants helped to fund programs that support CVI initiatives, domestic violence victims, police training, and more.
“Chicago and the entire state of Illinois are witnessing four consecutive years of double-digit drops in gun violence. This year, Chicago is on track to have the lowest number of homicides in 60 years,” Estrada said. “[…] We have evidence that our efforts are contributing to making the city safer. We ask that the federal government play its role in supporting local efforts.”
In speaking with CBS News Chicago, Metropolitan Peace Initiatives Executive Director Vaughn Bryant said he sees the potential action as a “negative.” Year over year, Chicago has seen a 30% decrease in homicides, a 35% decrease in robberies, and a nearly 40% decrease in shootings across the city.
“I don’t know what’s necessarily going on that would trigger that type of response,” Bryant said. “What our local government, and federal government to an extent as well, have invested in is our civilian infrastructure. That’s the major change in terms of what’s going on from a public safety perspective. If we’re seeing declines, figure out what’s going on that is causing the declines and do more of what’s working.”
Watch the full CBS report below.