The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the US military to Chicago as President Donald Trump says he is cracking down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration, The Washington Post reported on Saturday.
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The Defence Department planning, in the works for weeks, involves several options, including mobilising at least a few thousand members of the National Guard as soon as September, the Post reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.
“Chicago is a mess,” Trump, a Republican, told reporters on Friday, deriding its mayor as he continued his attacks on cities run by Democratic politicians. “And we’ll straighten that one out probably next.”
The Pentagon said in a statement late on Saturday: “We won’t speculate on further operations. The department is a planning organisation and is continuously working with other agency partners on plans to protect federal assets and personnel.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Post report.
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JB Pritzker, the Democratic governor of Illinois, which includes Chicago, said in a statement that the state had received no outreach from the federal government on whether it needed help. He said there was no emergency warranting a National Guard or other military deployment.