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Tag: U.S. National Guard

  • Suspect identified as 2 National Guard members remain in critical condition after targeted shooting near White House

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    (CNN) — The Department of Homeland Security has identified the suspect involved in the Wednesday shooting of two National Guard members, who remain in critical condition.

    The suspect is Rahmanullah Lakamal, who came to the US from Afghanistan in 2021, DHS said in a statement late Wednesday. Officials said earlier the suspect is in custody.

    Multiple law enforcement officials briefed on the matter told CNN the shooter’s initial identification matches a man from Washington state who applied for asylum in 2024, which was granted by the Trump administration earlier this year.

    The two guard members had been performing “high visibility patrols” near the White House before the suspect appeared, “raised his arm with a firearm and discharged at the National Guard,” said Jeffery Carroll, the executive assistant chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, during a news conference earlier Wednesday.

    Bowser and FBI Director Kash Patel said during the news conference the two guard members are in critical condition.

    DC Mayor Muriel Bowser described the attack as a “targeted shooting” in a post on X and said the two guard members shot were part of the West Virginia National Guard.

    “To the American public and the world, please send your prayers to those brave warriors who are in critical condition and their families,” Patel said during the news conference.

    Carroll added during the presser “there is no indication” that there is another suspect, adding that the suspect in custody was taken to an area hospital.

    The shooting took place near Farragut Square — a tourist-heavy area located near a busy transit center and the White House.

    A source familiar with the investigation told CNN earlier Wednesday that law enforcement officials are not tracking any other victims of the shooting beyond the two National Guard officers and the suspect.

    Three law enforcement sources told CNN that the suspect approached the guardsmen and appeared to target them, firing first at one of the guardsmen who was mere feet away.

    One source said the suspect then fired at the other guardsman, who tried to get behind a bus stop shelter. The source added that the suspect is not cooperating with investigators and had no identification on him at the time of his arrest.

    What we know about the shooting

    Video from the nearby Metro station showed the shooting as it happened, law enforcement officials told CNN.

    The gunman approached three National Guard members who appeared to not see him until he began shooting, striking one guard member and then another, the officials said.

    The gunman then stood over the first victim and appeared to try to fire another round. That’s when the third guard member returned fire at the alleged shooter, the sources said.

    A woman who was near the scene of the shooting told CNN she heard gunshots and then saw a “bunch of people” administering CPR to people who were on the ground.

    Two law enforcement sources said earlier Wednesday the suspect was detained and transported away from the scene on a stretcher.

    Authorities ran the fingerprints of the man in custody and that’s how they got the initial name, one law enforcement official told CNN.

    Investigators recovered a handgun believed to have been used in the attack on the National Guard members and are working to determine when and how the suspect obtained it, law enforcement officials told CNN.

    US law restricts firearms sales to people who aren’t citizens or legal permanent residents and it’s unclear whether the alleged gunman could have legally bought the handgun, the officials said.

    Prior to the Wednesday news conference, there were conflicting reports about the condition of the guardsman after West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey posted on social media — and later corrected — that the guardsmen were believed to be dead.

    Earlier in the day, DC Metropolitan Police said on X that the scene is secure and one suspect is in custody. They advised people to avoid the area.

    Joint Task Force — DC, the National Guard office responsible for organizing the Guard mission to Washington, DC, confirmed in a statement Wednesday afternoon that “several” of its members “were involved in a shooting near the Farragut West Metro Station,” adding that it is working with DC police and other “law enforcement agencies.”

    A police car blocks a street in Washington, DC, following a shooting on November 26. Credit: Joe Merkel / CNN via CNN Newsource

    Trump addresses nation and calls for re-examining Afghan immigrants

    President Donald Trump identified the suspect as an Afghan national in a video from Mar-a-Lago posted late Wednesday and blamed the Biden administration for allowing him into the country.

    “I can report tonight that based on the best available information, the Department of Homeland Security is confident that the suspect in custody is a foreigner who entered our country from Afghanistan — a hell hole on earth,” Trump said in the video, adding that the suspect “was flown in by the Biden administration in September 2021.”

    “We’re not going to put up with these kind of assaults on law and order by people who shouldn’t even be in our country,” Trump added. “We must now reexamine every single alien who’s entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden and we must take all necessary measures to ensure the removal of any alien from any country who does not belong here or add benefit to our country.”

    Following Trump’s remarks, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a post on X that the processing of all immigration cases related to Afghan immigrants “is stopped indefinitely pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”

    The Trump administration was already in the process of re-interviewing Afghan migrants admitted to the US during the previous administration, CNN reported earlier this week. Trump officials have repeatedly argued that the previous administration didn’t sufficiently vet the people who entered the US.

    In his video, Trump also reiterated his request to deploy 500 more National Guardsmen to Washington, DC, in response to the shooting, which was shared by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth earlier in the day.

    Shortly after the shooting, Trump weighed in on Truth Social, saying, “The animal that shot the two National Guardsmen … is also severely wounded, but regardless, will pay a very steep price.”

    Vice President JD Vance, during remarks at an event in Fort Campbell, Kentucky, called for prayers for the national guardsmen, who he said were in critical condition at the time.

    The shooting is “a somber reminder that soldiers whether they’re active duty, reserve or National Guard are soldiers are the sword and the shield of the United States of America,” Vance added.

    National Guard troops in nation’s capital since August

    National Guard troops from multiple states have been in Washington, DC, for months as part of President Donald Trump’s anti-crime crackdown in the nation’s capital, which has since expanded to other cities across the country.

    Trump mobilized the National Guard in August and the troops were authorized to conduct law enforcement activities.

    CNN reported last month that National Guard troops will remain mobilized in the city at least through February.

    However, last week a federal judge halted the mobilization of the National Guard in Washington, DC, ruling that Trump and the Defense Department illegally deployed the troops.

    In her ruling, the judge said there were “more than 2,000 National Guard troops” every day in the city.

    The judge did not immediately order the National Guard to leave the city, allowing the Trump administration some time to file an appeal, which it did Tuesday.

    The administration earlier Wednesday asked a federal appeals court for an emergency stay of the judge’s order to remove the National Guard from Washington, DC.

    This story and headline have been updated with additional details.

    CNN’s John Miller contributed to this report.

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    Zachary Cohen, Kaanita Iyer, Holmes Lybrand, Gabe Cohen, Evan Perez and CNN

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  • FACT FOCUS: Trump gets it wrong claiming no murders in DC for the last six months

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    In addition to pardoning two North Carolina turkeys at the annual White House ceremony Tuesday, President Donald Trump discussed his crime-fighting efforts in Washington, D.C., claiming that it’s been months since the city has seen a murder.

    But Metropolitan Police Department statistics say otherwise.

    Trump deployed National Guard troops to Washington in August in an effort to curb violent crime even though it had already reached its lowest levels in decades.

    Here’s a closer look at the facts.

    TRUMP: “We haven’t had a murder in six months.”

    THE FACTS: That’s false. There have been 62 homicides in Washington since May 25, including one last week, according to the MPD. The city has seen 123 homicides so far in 2025. Since National Guard troops were deployed to Washington on Aug. 11, there have been 24. In some data, only 61 homicides were reported in the last six months, and only 23 since Aug. 11, because of a technical error, the MPD said.

    Asked for comment on Trump’s claim, the department said that the statistics speak for themselves.

    White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers stressed Trump’s transformation of Washington “from a crime-ridden mess into a beautiful, clean, safe city” when asked about the discrepancy between his claim and city data. She did not address the discrepancy directly.

    A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Trump administration to end its monthslong deployment of National Guard troops in the nation’s capital. U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb found that Trump’s military takeover illegally intrudes on local officials’ authority to direct law enforcement in the district. The order is on hold for 21 days to allow for appeal.

    District of Columbia Attorney General Brian Schwalb in September sued to challenge the Guard deployments. He asked the judge to bar the White House from deploying Guard troops without the mayor’s consent while the lawsuit plays out.

    During the turkey pardoning, Trump said Washington “is now considered a safe zone,” making the erroneous claim that “we haven’t seen a murder in six months.”

    A Department of Justice report from January showed that total violent crime in 2024 was at the lowest it had been in more than 30 years, including a 32% drop in homicides from 2023, when it experienced a post-pandemic peak.

    Homicides in the past six months are down 46% from the same period last year, while homicides since the August deployment are down 38% from the previous period, MPD data shows. There has been a 29% decrease in homicides in 2025 to date compared to 2024.

    Violent crime during the National Guard’s initial one-month surge in Washington was down 39% from the same period last year, including a 53% drop in homicides, with seven during the surge, compared to 15 during the same timespan in 2024.

    Arson is the only type of crime that has not seen a decrease, with a 0% change from last year to this year.

    The city’s statistics came into question, however, after federal authorities opened an investigation into allegations that officials altered some of the data to make it look better. The investigation is ongoing.

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    Associated Press writers Gary Fields and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • Who will defend Detroit? – Detroit Metro Times

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    The threat is here

    Since deploying the National Guard to Washington, D.C., the federal government has mobilized to deploy more troops to Chicago, Portland, and Memphis. While the administration claims these deployments are about controlling crime, history and context tell a different story. This is not a public safety strategy — it’s a political maneuver pulled straight from the authoritarian playbook. 

    Now, with recent talk of President Donald Trump invoking the Insurrection Act, the administration is laying the groundwork to further erode civil rights, suppress dissent, and undermine the authority of local governments to govern themselves. What’s at stake is democracy itself, the right of people and their cities to exercise self-determination, to choose their leaders, and to shape their collective future free from federal coercion.

    It is not a stretch to anticipate that Detroit could soon join the list of municipal targets. With a high-stakes election on the horizon, Detroiters must ask themselves: Which candidates will have the courage to stand up to authoritarianism and defend our city’s right to self-govern? Across the country, cities are taking bold steps to protect their residents and affirm the principles of local democracy in the face of federal overreach.

    How other cities are fighting back 

    Across the country, mayors and city councils are moving swiftly to assert local autonomy, defend civil rights, and protect residents from unlawful and unconstitutional federal incursions.

    In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the State of Illinois have filed a lawsuit to block the Trump administration from deploying National Guard troops on city streets. “It’s going to take all of us, and I’m using every single tool that’s available to me,” Johnson said. “We don’t know what our limits are just yet — and I’m going to test the boundaries as much as I possibly can to do everything in my power to defend the people of this city.”

    Johnson also issued an executive order — a mechanism that Detroit’s city charter also allows — establishing the Protecting Chicago Initiative. This initiative establishes a city-wide “Know Your Rights” campaign, demands that President Trump withdraw his threat to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, and reaffirms that the Chicago Police Department (CPD) will remain locally controlled. The executive order also explicitly states that CPD will not cooperate with or enable the unlawful actions of federal law enforcement or any U.S. Armed Forces operating within Chicago. 

    Additionally, Mayor Johnson issued an executive order establishing “ICE-Free Zones,” prohibiting federal immigration authorities from using city-owned or controlled spaces — such as parking lots, garages, or vacant lots — as staging or processing sites for immigration enforcement.

    Other cities are also taking steps to defend their cities:

    • In Providence, Rhode Island, the city council mailed “Know Your Rights” information to every household, ensuring residents are equipped with the tools to assert their legal protections in the face of federal overreach.
    • In El Paso, Texas, the County Commissioners Court adopted a resolution requiring federal agents operating within the county to clearly display personal identification and agency insignia and barring the use of face masks to conceal their identities.
    • In Nashville, Mayor Freddie O’Connell signed an executive order establishing a system to track and publicly report all local interactions with federal immigration authorities, increasing transparency and accountability.
    • In Evanston, Illinois, the city council amended its Welcoming City Ordinance to broaden the definition of “immigration agent” and further restrict city data sharing with ICE and any third party that could relay information to federal enforcement agencies.

    Together, these actions form a blueprint for local resistance by using every available legal, legislative, and administrative tool to safeguard residents, defend local sovereignty, and make clear that the people will fight authoritarianism at every attempt. 

    What Detroit’s next leaders must do

    Detroit has always stood at the intersection of power and protest. From the labor movements that reshaped the nation’s economy to the 1967 uprising that demanded dignity and justice, this city has long embodied the struggle for self-determination. That legacy is being tested once again. The threat of federalized troops on our streets is not just a question of law enforcement — it’s a question of whether Detroiters will retain the power to govern ourselves, to determine what safety looks like in our own communities, and to ensure that our government remains accountable to the people who live here.

    Detroit’s leaders have both the moral authority and the legal tools to act. The city charter grants the mayor the power to issue executive orders — just as Chicago and Nashville have done — to affirm Detroit’s autonomy and protect its residents from unconstitutional federal action. City Council can follow the lead of Providence, El Paso, and Evanston by adopting resolutions that demand transparency from federal agencies, bar local cooperation with unlawful operations, and inform residents of their rights. These actions are not symbolic; they are essential acts of democratic defense.

    The ballot box and beyond: The long work of democracy in Detroit

    Despite the gravity of these issues, they have received little attention in the current election campaigns. Over the summer, the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights distributed a 14-question survey to all mayoral primary candidates, asking how each would defend Detroiters against potential abuses of federal power. The majority of candidates — including Mary Sheffield — responded. Candidate Solomon Kinloch did not. The Keith Center also sent the same survey to all City Council candidates in the upcoming general election. Candidates Denzel McCampbell (District 7), Roy McCalister, Jr. (District 2), Renata Miller (District 5), and Councilmember Coleman A. Young II (At-Large) replied, while the others failed to respond. This silence is alarming — especially given that Vice President JD Vance has openly threatened to deploy the National Guard onto Detroit’s streets. Detroiters deserve clear, public answers from those seeking to lead them.

    This November 4th, Detroiters must cast their votes with these truths in mind: democracy is not defended by rhetoric but by action, and local power is only as strong as the people willing to protect it. Elections are an instrument, not the end. Electing leaders who will stand up to federal overreach is vital — but so is sustaining the kind of political culture that holds them accountable long after the votes are counted. Detroit needs a durable civic movement that insists on transparency, demands participation, and builds networks of accountability. The right to self-govern is not a one-day choice; it is a continuous practice of vigilance, courage, and collective responsibility.

    Angel McKissic, Ph.D. (she/her) is the Director of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School. Peter Hammer, J.D./Ph.D. is the Faculty Director of the Damon J. Keith Center and A. Alfred Taubman Professor of Law at Wayne State University Law School.

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    Angel McKissic and Peter Hammer

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  • Obama rips concessions that businesses and others have made to Trump

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    (CNN) — Barack Obama ripped into the law firms, universities and businesses that have worked out settlements or other deals with President Donald Trump’s administration, arguing that “We all have this capacity, I think, to take a stand.”

    The former president said the organizations that concede to Trump should be able to say, “We’re not going to be bullied into saying that we can only hire people or promote people based on some criteria that’s been cooked up by Steve Miller,” referring to the top White House aide.

    According to an advance podcast transcript, Obama said he sympathized with those looking to avoid a backlash, but said, “We’re not at the stage where you have to be like Nelson Mandela and be in a 10-by-12 jail cell for 27 years and break rocks.”

    The comments, some of the most direct that Obama has made about Trump outside of his campaign trail appearances in 2020 and 2024, came in an interview posting Monday for the final episode of the “WTF” podcast hosted by comedian Marc Maron.

    Maron, who last interviewed Obama in 2015, has frequently talked about that conversation in subsequent episodes. In July, after announcing he would end the 16-year run of the pioneering podcast, he suggested that another talk with Obama would be a dream way to finish. Last week, he got his wish — though not by having Obama make another visit to his house, as many of the podcast guests tend to.

    Maron kept the interview a surprise even from fans, only teasing in his penultimate episode that he traveled to record it. They met in Obama’s office in Washington.

    The conversation focused on the state of America and what Democrats can find hope in — but Obama also criticized progressive absolutism and singled out one rising Texas Democrat who impresses him.

    The news out of his hometown on his mind, Obama called Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Chicago “a deliberate end run around not just a concept, but a law that’s been around for a long time” — the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally prohibits the use of the military inside the US for law enforcement purposes.

    “That is a genuine effort to weaken how we have understood democracy,” he said.

    Obama reflected on his own experiences in the White House, including dealing with pushback from Republican leaders such as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

    “If I had sent in the National Guard into Texas and just said, ‘You know what? A lot of problems in Dallas, a lot of crime there, and I don’t care what Gov. Abbott says. I’m going to kind of take over law enforcement, because I think things are out of control,’ it is mind-boggling to me how Fox News would have responded,” he said.

    The two also discussed the evolution of the media environment, particularly around the podcast world Maron helped shape, and what it has done to political communication.

    “It was interesting to me when people started criticizing Bernie [Sanders] or somebody else for going on Rogan. It’s like, why wouldn’t you? Yeah, of course, go,” Obama said, referring to “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast.

    Among the Rogan guests who caught Obama’s eye: Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who turned a viral appearance on the podcast into fuel for what has now become a competitive Senate primary run.

    Obama called Talarico “terrific, a really talented young man,” adding that his appearance proves that going on long-form podcasts requires “a certain confidence in your actual convictions to debate and have a conversation with somebody who disagrees with you.”

    Overall, Obama argued, “what people long for is some core integrity that seems absent, just a sense that the person seems to walk the walk, just talk the talk.”

    Obama said he particularly enjoyed a bit from Maron’s latest stand-up special when the comedian jokes that progressives annoyed the average American into fascism.

    “You can’t constantly lecture people without acknowledging that you’ve got some blind spots too, and that life’s messy,” Obama said. “I think this was a fault of some progressive language, was almost asserting a holier-than-thou superiority that’s not that different from what we used to joke about coming from the right moral majority and a certain fundamentalism about how to think about stuff that I think was dangerous.”

    “If I talked about trans issues, I wasn’t talking down to people and saying, ‘Oh, you’re a bigot,’” he said. “I’d say, ‘You know, it’s tough enough being a teenager. Let’s treat all kids decently. Why would we want to see kids bullied?”

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    Edward-Isaac Dovere and CNN

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  • National Guard troops in Illinois can remain federalized but can’t be deployed, appeals court rules

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    (CNN) — A federal appeals court ruled Saturday the National Guard troops in Illinois can remain under federal control but can’t be deployed as the appeals process continues in the ongoing showdown between the Trump administration and the state.

    The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to temporarily pause part of a lower court’s order this week that halted deployments of National Guard troops in the state for two weeks – the latest in a bicoastal court saga over whether President Donald Trump is exceeding his authority by deploying troops to quell demonstrations outside ICE facilities near Democratic-led cities like Chicago and Portland.

    “Members of the National Guard do not need to return to their home states unless further ordered by a court to do so,” the order says.

    Troops in the Chicago area are now engaged in “planning and training,” but “not conducting any operational activities at this time,” US Northern Command said in a Friday update.

    There were 300 members of the Illinois National Guard and 200 members of the Texas National Guard activated under Title 10 and in the Chicago area as of Wednesday, the command previously said.

    “This is a victory for our state,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement. “This is a victory for state and local law enforcement – who know their communities and who protect the right of their communities to speak truth to power.”

    In response to the ruling, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN, “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets. President Trump will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities and we expect to be vindicated by a higher court.”

    The Trump administration had filed a notice of appeal this week against US District Court Judge April Perry’s decision Thursday to grant a temporary restraining order blocking Trump’s National Guard deployment in Illinois.

    “I have seen no credible evidence that there has been rebellion in the state of Illinois” that would justify federalizing National Guard soldiers, Perry said in her ruling, calling Department of Homeland Security assessments of the protests “unreliable.”

    Sending in troops would “only add fuel to the fire,” the judge added.

    Leaders in areas like Illinois and Oregon have emphatically disputed the Trump administration’s characterizations of their cities as “war-ravaged” and uncontrollably violent, arguing in court that the situation on the ground is not as extreme as federal officials are portraying it to be.

    Other states have rallied behind Illinois’ legal battle, as Maryland – along with 19 other states, Washington, DC, and three governors’ offices – filed an amicus brief Saturday evening calling the president’s deployment of the National Guard across the US “unlawful, unconstitutional, and undemocratic.”

    “The Trump Administration’s shifting and expanding misuse of the National Guard exemplifies the concentration of power that the Founding Generation feared,” the brief reads.

    On the West Coast, a three-judge panel with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is still weighing whether the Trump administration should be blocked from deploying the Oregon National Guard to respond to ICE protests in Portland. They have yet to release a decision, though state Attorney General Dan Rayfield on Thursday said he expects a ruling “in the coming days.”

    The appeals court ruled Wednesday to temporarily allow the federalization of the Oregon National Guard, while the block against deploying the troops remains in effect.

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    Michelle Watson, Danya Gainor and CNN

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  • Illinois and Chicago sue Trump administration over deployment of National Guard

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    (CNN) — The state of Illinois and Chicago on Monday sued the Trump administration over its move to deploy National Guard troops to Chicago as the White House targets Democrat-led cities amid weeks of protests against the federal government’s immigration enforcement campaign.

    The lawsuit opens a new front in the legal battles the White House is waging against state and local officials, coming just hours after a federal judge blocked a similar deployment of the guard to Portland, Oregon.

    “Defendants’ deployment of federalized troops to Illinois is patently unlawful,” the lawsuit says. “Plaintiffs ask this court to halt the illegal, dangerous, and unconstitutional federalization of members of the National Guard of the United States, including both the Illinois and Texas National Guard.”

    The lawsuit comes two days after the White House announced President Donald Trump authorized sending 300 members of the Illinois National Guard to Chicago to “protect federal officers and assets,” reprising a strategy he first used against anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests in Los Angeles and Washington, DC.

    News of the deployment was condemned by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who said he refused to call up the National Guard after the Trump administration demanded he do so. On Sunday – after learning the administration also planned to send 400 members of the Texas National Guard to Illinois and Oregon, among other places – Pritzker likened the move to an “invasion.”

    The lawsuit asks the court to order the administration to stop federalizing or deploying any National Guard troops to Illinois, and to declare the federalization of National Guard troops more broadly as unlawful. Trump, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are among the defendants named.

    In a statement, a White House spokesperson said the president “will not turn a blind eye to the lawlessness plaguing American cities.”

    “Amidst ongoing violent riots and lawlessness, that local leaders like Pritzker have refused to step in to quell, President Trump has exercised his lawful authority to protect federal officers and assets,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson told CNN.

    The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, argued the deployments are politically motivated, claiming Trump has a long history of making “threatening and derogatory” comments about Chicago and the state of Illinois, dating to at least 2013.

    Among other examples, it calls out a September 6 social media post by Trump in which he said Chicago would “find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” referring to the president’s rebranded name for the Pentagon.

    Illinois and Chicago have already seen a “surge” of federal agents, some of whom have responded to demonstrations at an ICE facility in Broadview, near Chicago, the lawsuit says. Those protests are a “flimsy pretext” to deploy National Guardsmen to the state, the lawsuit says.

    Instead, “Defendants’ provocative and arbitrary actions have threatened to undermine public safety by inciting a public outcry,” the lawsuit says, because local and state law enforcement have been sent to “maintain the peace” in Broadview while ICE continues operating the facility.

    “There is no legal or factual justification” for the National Guard federalization order, the lawsuit says.

    Illinois’ complaint follows a similar challenge to the administration’s move to assign federalized guard troops from Oregon and California to Portland.

    Officials in both states had objected, and a Trump-appointed federal judge on Sunday temporarily blocked the deployment of National Guard from anywhere in the US to Portland.

    The president, the judge said, appeared to have “exceeded his constitutional authority” by federalizing troops, because protests in Portland “did not pose a ‘danger of rebellion.’”

    This story has been updated with additional information.

    We’ve moved to Live Updates for coverage of this developing story. Follow the latest here.

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  • Federal immigration operations ramping up in Chicago and Boston as other sanctuary cities are on alert

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    (CNN) — Immigration enforcement operations are ramping up in Chicago and Boston, marking the latest escalation between the Trump administration and Democratic-led cities that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

    The Department of Homeland Security on Monday announced “Operation Midway Blitz” aimed at targeting “criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois because they knew Governor (JB) Pritzker and his sanctuary policies would protect them and allow them to roam free on American streets.”

    The heightened rhetoric from President Donald Trump and his top officials aligns with how the White House plans to push forward its aggressive agenda aimed at undocumented immigrants. Ongoing arrests in Chicago are expected to expand as a federal presence builds up in a weeks-long, phased approach, according to officials familiar with the plans who stressed it’s still in flux.

    Operations in Boston and Chicago are modeled after the June immigration sweeps in Los Angeles that the Supreme Court ruled Monday can continue under certain circumstances. The Homeland Security official charged with immigration operations in Los Angeles, Gregory Bovino, was deployed to Chicago to do the same there, officials told CNN, with one describing Chicago as “Los Angeles on the road.”

    The escalating actions also follow a massive raid last week at a Hyundai plant in Georgia that, while not in a sanctuary city, previews forthcoming worksite operations, border czar Tom Homan told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday.

    “You can expect action in most sanctuary cities across the country,” Homan said, decrying as “problem areas” the next targets of the sweeping nationwide immigration enforcement agenda that helped propel Trump to a second term but Americans largely oppose.

    In tandem with those moves, more Democratic-led cities also are bracing for the Trump administration to decide — “over the next day or two,” the president said Sunday — where to further deploy National Guard troops to crack down on violent crime, a purported problem the White House sometimes has linked with immigration.

    This image from video provided by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows a person being handcuffed at the Hyundai Motor Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ellabell, Georgia, on Thursday. Credit: Corey Bullard / AP via CNN Newsource

    The Department of Homeland Security on Sunday blamed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu for sanctuary polices that “not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens.” Crossing the border or overstaying a visa and being undocumented in the United States generally is a civil infraction, not a criminal one.

    Calling up the National Guard is “always on the table” for Chicago, Homan told CNN, even after a federal judge last week ruled Trump broke federal law by using the US military to help with law enforcement activities in and around Los Angeles — while use of the guard in Washington, DC, is unlike anywhere else.

    “We used them in Los Angeles, and we use them in Washington, DC,” Homan said. “They’re a force multiplier.”

    Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, said in a statement Monday that such enforcement won’t make people feel safer.

    “They are a waste of money, stoke fear, and represent another failed attempt at a distraction,” he said.

    Cities push back against Trump threats

    In Washington, DC, where more than 2,200 armed National Guard troops have roamed for weeks, officials are suing the Trump administration, accusing the president of violating the Constitution and federal law by sending soldiers into the city without consent from local leaders.

    The lawsuit, filed Thursday by DC’s attorney general, claims the troops — many from out of state — have been deputized by the US Marshals office and are patrolling neighborhoods, conducting searches and making arrests, despite federal laws that generally bar the military from acting as local police.

    The Trump administration has touted its efforts in the capital city, pointing to a sharp drop in violent crime since ramping up federal law enforcement last month. But critics argue the National Guard deployment is unnecessary and costly, with taxpayers footing an estimated $1 million a day, while troops take photos with tourists, pick up trash and lay mulch.

    Members of the National Guard patrol inside the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, DC, on August 28. Credit: Win McNamee / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    Trump has also repeatedly slammed nearby Baltimore for its crime, calling the city a “hellhole” and suggesting the National Guard could be deployed there next.

    “We don’t need an occupation,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott told CNN’s Manu Raju on Sunday. Scott said he’d explore all options when asked whether he would sign an order like Chicago’s that tells local police not to cooperate with federal law enforcement should they be deployed.

    On Sunday evening, Trump told reporters Chicago is a “very dangerous place,” adding to anticipation of troops there. The president said he could “solve Chicago very quickly,” but stopped short of committing to deploy the guard.

    The next morning, he lashed out at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, questioning the Democrat’s supposed aversion to federal intervention: “WHY??? … Only the Criminals will be hurt” by any federal efforts, Trump wrote on his social media platform, adding crime is “ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE!!!”

    Pritzker denounced DHS operations in the state Monday, saying in a post on X that the operation “isn’t about fighting crime.”

    “That requires support and coordination — yet we’ve experienced nothing like that over the past several weeks,” he said, adding that the administration has chosen to focus “on scaring Illinoisians.”

    The governor’s office has still not recieved any “formal communication or information” from the Trump administration and that they are often learning of operations through social media, said Matt Hill, spokesperson for Pritzker.

    Seven people were killed in Chicago from Friday evening through Sunday, preliminary police figures show. At least six victims were men, ages 21 to 42.

    Still, fatal shootings in the city are down 34.2% this year through September 6 compared with the same period in 2024, with 237 killed in 2025, mayor’s office data shows.

    The Windy City has prepared for more than a week for looming National Guard deployments and Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, from the governor bracing for a court fight to parade planners postponing.

    Fears gripped Chicago over the weekend

    On the Lower West Side of Chicago, the start of Mexican Independence Day celebrations typically marks a raucous weekend of parties and parades drawing hundreds of thousands of attendees. While some crowds did gather Saturday waving green, white and red flags in the predominantly Latino Pilsen neighborhood, an undercurrent of caution persisted.

    As costumed performers and children with baskets of treats paraded through the community, bright orange whistles swung from their necks, each one ready to cut through the music should federal immigration agents appear.

    Keilina Zamora prepares to participate in the Mexican Independence Day parade in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Saturday. Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images via CNN Newsource
    People watch the Mexican Independence Day parade in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood on Saturday. Credit: Scott Olson / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    Elsewhere, celebrations were muted.

    In Wauconda, a village northwest of Chicago, the annual Latino Heritage Festival was canceled due in part to “immigration concerns in our area,” the Wauconda Police Department said in a Friday social media post.

    One of the largest events of the Fiestas Patrias, the parade for the Mexican Independence Day in Waukegan, has been postponed for the first time in its 30-year history to November 1 from September 14. The festival is celebrated every year in the suburb along Lake Michigan just north of the Great Lakes naval base, the facility Gov. JB Pritzker said Trump is set to use as a command center for incoming immigration agents.

    Communities throughout the nation’s third-largest city are preparing for ICE presence by handing out flyers reminding families they have the right in the face of immigration enforcement to remain silent and don’t have to consent to be searched or share their birthplace or citizenship status, among other rights.

    In Pilsen, neighbors gathered this weekend to celebrate Latino culture, choosing joy despite fear: “I think now more than ever is when we need to demonstrate that we are united and we are a community,” longtime resident Araceli Lucio said.

    CNN’s Kit Maher, Alison Main, Samantha Waldenberg, Lily Hautau, Chris Boyette and Gabe Cohen contributed to this report.

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    Priscilla Alvarez, Danya Gainor and CNN

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  • Trump says Chicago ‘will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR’ ahead of planned crackdown

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    (CNN) — President Donald Trump posted a meme on social media Saturday saying that Chicago “will find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” as the city’s officials brace for an immigration crackdown.

    “I love the smell of deportations in the morning … Chicago about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR,” the post reads. Trump signed an executive order Friday to rebrand the Pentagon as the “Department of War.”

    The post includes what appears to be an artificially generated image of the president wearing a hat and sunglasses, with the Chicago skyline in the background, accompanied by text reading “Chipocalypse Now.”

    Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Saturday called Trump’s post “not normal.”

    “The President of the United States is threatening to go to war with an American city. This is not a joke. This is not normal,” Pritzker wrote on X. “Donald Trump isn’t a strongman, he’s a scared man. Illinois won’t be intimidated by a wannabe dictator.”

    It comes as Trump has ramped up his rhetoric against the country’s third most-populous city. CNN previously reported the Trump administration’s plans to conduct a major immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, and that officials there were bracing for it to begin as early as Friday.

    In recent days, personnel from Immigration and Border Protection as well as Customs and Border Protection have begun trickling into the city, White House officials told CNN.

    The Trump administration has also reserved the right to call in the National Guard if there is a reaction to the operation that warrants it, the officials said. The Chicago operation is being modeled off of a similar operation carried out in Los Angeles in June. A judge ruled this week that the June deployment broke federal law prohibiting the military from law enforcement activity on US soil in most cases; the Trump administration has appealed.

    White House officials have made clear the Chicago immigration crackdown is distinct from the idea the president has floated to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in the city, similar to the operation in Washington, DC.

    When asked by a reporter Tuesday about sending National Guard troops into the city, Trump said, “We’re going,” adding, “I didn’t say when. We’re going in.”

    Democratic officials who represent Chicago and Illinois also condemned Trump’s post Saturday.

    “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation, but the reality is that he wants to occupy our city and break our Constitution,” wrote Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on social media. “We must defend our democracy from this authoritarianism by protecting each other and protecting Chicago from Donald Trump.”

    Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth described Trump’s post on X as “Stolen valor at its worst,” writing, “Take off that Cavalry hat, you draft dodger. You didn’t earn the right to wear it.”

    CNN’s Alayna Treene contributed to this report.

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  • Kemp sending Georgia National Guard troops to join crackdown on D.C. crime

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    ATLANTA – Gov. Brian Kemp announced Friday that he is sending 316 members of the Georgia National Guard to Washington, D.C., to support President Donald Trump’s use of troops to crack down on crime in the nation’s capital.

    The Georgia Guard contingent heading to Washington will include 300 soldiers and 16 support staff.

    “Georgia is proud to stand with the Trump administration in its mission to ensure the security and beauty of our nation’s capital,” Kemp said. “We share a commitment to upholding public safety and are grateful to these brave Guardsmen and women, for the families that support them, and for their dedication to service above self.

    “As they have demonstrated again and again, our Georgia Guard is well equipped to fulfill both this mission and its obligations to the people of our state.”

    With Kemp’s announcement, Georgia becomes the eighth state to deploy more than 2,200 Guardsmen from around the nation to provide a visible presence in support of local law enforcement in Washington. All eight are led by Republican governors.

    Trump issued an executive order last month declaring a crime emergency in the District of Columbia, which has prompted criticism from Democrats who argue violent crime rates are higher in other cities that have not drawn the president’s attention and that using the military to police U.S. civilians is illegal.

    “The uniform should never be used to intimidate and divide but to protect and serve,” said state Sen. Kenya Wicks, D-Fayetteville, one of several military veterans in the General Assembly who spoke out against the deployment Friday at a news conference inside the state Capitol. “Not only is it unconstitutional. It is a violation of the oath Guard members are sworn to uphold.”

    “This is not about public safety,” added state Rep. Eric Bell, D-Jonesboro. “It’s an erosion of American freedom.”

    Kemp said Friday that sending Georgia National Guard troops to Washington is a separate mission from his decision late last month to deploy about 75 soldiers and airmen to help support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across Georgia.

    The 300 Georgia Guard troops heading to Washington will relieve service members who have been stationed in the District of Columbia from the start of the mission. They are scheduled to mobilize by the middle of this month and will be on active duty in Washington shortly thereafter, barring any changes to the schedule that may arise.

    The 16 support staff personnel were sent earlier this week to Joint Base Anacostia-Boiling in Washington where they will work with other military personnel providing support for the broader mission. They are not expected to have any direct interaction with civilians.

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  • Chicago braces for federal immigration enforcement operation while Trump criticizes local officials

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    (CNN) — Officials in Chicago are bracing for a major federal immigration enforcement operation that could begin as soon as this week, with the city’s mayor signing an order over the weekend aimed at resisting the Trump administration’s planned crackdown.

    Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Sunday such a move would be an “invasion” and that he has had no communication with the Trump administration about reported plans to send National Guard troops to Chicago.

    “No one in the administration – the president or anybody under him – has called anyone in my administration, or me. So, it’s clear that in secret they’re planning this – well, it’s an invasion with US troops, if they in fact do that,” Pritzker said Sunday.

    The operation is expected to kick off in Chicago by this Friday and could involve agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and potentially be backed by guard forces in a peacekeeping role, according to multiple sources familiar with the planning.

    “We’ve already had ongoing operations with ICE in Chicago and throughout Illinois and other states, making sure that we’re upholding our laws, but we do intend to add more resources to those operations,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

    An immigration operation in the city would further escalate a clash between the White House and Democratic-led cities and comes as President Donald Trump and his aides have repeatedly slammed Chicago over policies that limit cooperation between local authorities and federal immigration enforcement.

    Asked about expanding these operations beyond Chicago, Noem said that the Trump administration has “not taken anything off the table,” and specifically named San Francisco and Boston in addition to Chicago. She suggested that Republican-led cities with crime problems were “absolutely” also being evaluated.

    Chicago has been preparing to try to resist Trump’s planned immigration crackdown with Mayor Brandon Johnson signing an executive order Saturday providing guidance and directives to the city’s agencies and law enforcement “in the midst of escalating threats from the federal government.”

    The mayor’s order “affirms” that Chicago police will not “collaborate with federal agents on joint law enforcement patrols, arrest operations, or other law enforcement duties including civil immigration enforcement.” It also “urges” federal law enforcement officers to use body cameras and refrain from wearing masks.

    Exterior view of the Illinois Army National Guard building, housing a recruiting office, on August 27, in Chicago. Credit: Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu/ / Getty Images via CNN Newsource

    “We may see militarized immigration enforcement. We may also see National Guard troops. We may even see active duty military and armed vehicles in our streets. We have not called for this. Our people have not asked for this, but nevertheless, we find ourselves having to respond to this,” Johnson said before signing the executive order on Saturday.

    White House officials have made clear that these immigration enforcement plans are distinct from the idea the president has floated over the past week to use federal law enforcement and National Guard troops to carry out a broader crime crackdown in Chicago, similar to the current surge in Washington, DC.

    Trump took to social media Monday morning with a post celebrating what he called a massive victory over crime in the nation’s capital and taking sharp aim at Democratic leaders across the country for refusing his floated plans for an aggressive federal anti-crime strategy in their states as well.

    He contrasted politicians who are resisting his plans with what he sees as a more welcoming stance from Washington DC’s leadership. In the Truth Social post, Trump said DC Mayor Muriel Bowser’s “statements and actions were positive, instead of others like Pritzker, Wes Moore, Newscum, and the 5% approval rated Mayor of Chicago, who spend all of their time trying to justify violent Crime, instead of working with us to completely ELIMINATE it.”

    Trump officials have been quick to criticize the Illinois governor and defend potential federal policing in the state by pointing to crime statistics.

    Noem pointed to homicide statistics in Chicago on Sunday in a dig to the governor, saying Pritzker “can talk about what a great job he’s doing as governor, but he’s failing these families. … This seems like it’s more about Gov. Pritzker’s ego now rather than actually protecting his people.”

    In a warning to Pritzker on Saturday, Trump told the governor to quickly “straighten” out crime in Chicago or the federal government will intervene.

    “Six people were killed, and 24 people were shot, in Chicago last weekend, and JB Pritzker, the weak and pathetic Governor of Illinois, just said that he doesn’t need help in preventing CRIME. He is CRAZY!!! He better straighten it out, FAST, or we’re coming!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

    At least 54 people were shot – seven of them fatally – in Chicago over the holiday weekend. Roughly 32 shootings have been reported since Friday at 10:32 p.m., with victims ranging in age from 14 to 48, according to incident notifications published by the Chicago Police Department.

    Meanwhile, the Chicago mayor’s office last week touted a 21.6% decrease in overall violent crime and a 32.3% decrease in homicides so far this year.

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    Shania Shelton and CNN

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  • FACT FOCUS: Online reports falsely claim Biden suffered a ‘medical emergency’ on Air Force One

    FACT FOCUS: Online reports falsely claim Biden suffered a ‘medical emergency’ on Air Force One

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    False reports that President Joe Biden had a “medical emergency” while traveling back to Delaware on Friday after a campaign stop in Wisconsin, spread widely on social media on Friday. They were without merit.

    Here’s a look at the facts.

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    CLAIM: President Joe Biden had a “medical emergency” aboard Air Force One on Friday.

    AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. There were no signs of a medical emergency on the flight, according to an Associated Press reporter who was traveling with Biden. Air Force One arrived at Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, at 7:22 p.m. The president exited the plane on his own, saluted and spoke with an officer at the base of the stairs and took a question from a reporter before leaving the airport.

    THE FACTS: As Biden returned to his home in Wilmington, Delaware, after a campaign stop in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday social media users falsely claimed that the president had suffered a “medical emergency” aboard Air Force One.

    Air Force One landed in New Castle, Delaware, at 7:22 p.m. about the same time posts started spreading about Biden’s alleged medical emergency.

    “I just received a tip from an anonymous source,” reads one X post. “My source says that Joe Biden is currently experiencing a medical emergency on Air Force One as I type this. No further details are known.”

    Another X post states: “Joe Biden is reportedly having a medical emergency on Air Force One right now. Press access has been removed.” It had received approximately 15,000 likes and 10,900 shares as of Saturday morning.

    The posts presented no evidence that such an event occurred. Press access was not removed.

    Video shows Biden walking down the steps of Air Force One in Delaware, speaking with an officer, answering a reporter’s question about whether he would watch a highly anticipated interview he did with ABC News’ George Stephanopolous and getting into a car, all without issue.

    There were no signs of an emergency aboard Air Force One and the press was not denied access to the plane at any point, according to an AP reporter who was traveling on Air Force One with Biden during the flight from Wisconsin to Delaware. The reporter added that press was able to move about the plane as usual and that a door separating press from Biden’s top staff was open for most of the flight.

    White House spokesperson Andrew Bates called the claim “100% false” in an X post on Friday night.

    Other posts claimed that the press did not see Biden when the presidential motorcade arrived at his home Friday night and that his campaign had canceled upcoming events as a result of the supposed emergency.

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    A press pool was in Biden’s motorcade when he was dropped off at his Wilmington home, according to the AP reporter who was traveling with the president. The reporter said journalists did not see him enter the house, but they routinely do not see him enter his Wilmington home because it is set back from the street and it is typical to only see the motorcade going through the gates leading to the house.

    Biden had no public events planned for Saturday. He was scheduled to speak at a National Education Association convention on Sunday, but canceled after the union’s staff announced a strike on Friday.

    “President Biden is a fierce supporter of unions and he won’t cross a picket line,” his campaign said in a statement. “The President is still planning to travel to Pennsylvania this weekend.”

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    Associated Press reporters Colleen Long and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.

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    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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