Trump administration asks military base near Chicago for support on immigration operations

CHICAGO (AP) — The Trump administration asked a military base outside of Chicago for support on immigration operations this week, offering a clue of what an expanded law enforcement crackdown might look like in the nation's third-largest city.

The Department of Homeland Security asked Naval Station Great Lakes for “limited support in the form of facilities, infrastructure, and other logistical needs to support DHS operations,” Matt Mogle, spokesperson for the base 35 miles (56 kilometers) north of Chicago, said Wednesday.

The request came weeks after the Republican administration deployed National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to target crime, immigration and homelessness, and two months after it sent troops to Los Angeles.

Although details of the administration’s plans for Chicago are scarce, city leaders said Thursday that they are preparing for multiple possible scenarios, from troops assisting in immigration arrests to patrolling in the streets.

“We don’t want to raise any fears,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling told reporters. “We don’t want to create any speculation around what’s going on.”

City leaders said Thursday that the White House hadn't contacted them about its plans, and a spokesman for the Illinois National Guard said the base hadn't received requests regarding a Chicago mobilization.

Mogle, the base spokesman, said no decisions had been made on the request, and that the base hadn't received an official request to support a National Guard deployment. The Chicago Sun-Times first reported on the request to the Navy base.

DHS did not confirm whether it had asked to use the base. But it said in a statement Thursday that it was working to make “our streets and cities safe again.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker have pushed back against a possible mobilization, saying crime has fallen in Chicago and that the city doesn't want or need the military's help. They are planning to sue.

City leaders said workers were circulating know-your-rights cards in neighborhoods with heavy immigrant populations, which offer tips on what to do in case of an encounter with an immigration agent. Other workers were checking in on Chicago's homeless encampments and providing information about shelters since Trump has pushed to move homeless people far from Washington.

Snelling asked for more communication on plans involving law enforcement.

“To make sure that we’re not stoking fears through neighborhoods and we don’t have people running scared and it doesn’t create chaos on our streets, we’re willing to have those conversations,” Snelling said.

Many Chicagoans are on edge about the rumored deployment. Former President Barack Obama, who is from Chicago, weighed in Thursday, posting on X: “The erosion of basic principles like due process and the expanding use of our military on domestic soil puts the liberties of all Americans at risk, and should concern Democrats and Republicans alike."

Former President Joe Biden's transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, a former U.S. Naval Reserve intelligence officer who trained at Great Lakes, said in a post on X that he never imagined the station could be used “for surveillance and enforcement activity on American soil. Our military was not set up to cater to the whims of a would-be American dictator.”

Pritzker, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, has spent days showcasing parts of the city where crime has fallen and said there is no emergency in Chicago requiring military intervention. He told The Associated Press that the presence of troops could worsen the situation.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, he suggested that it's a political ploy, not a law enforcement strategy, that Trump will pull out during next year's elections.

“This is a part of his plan to do something really nefarious, which is to interfere with elections in 2026,” Pritzker said. “He wants to have troops on the ground to stop people from voting, to intimidate people from going to the voting booth.”

Trump has often singled out Chicago, likening it to a war zone and “hellhole.” Chicago’s long-held status as a so-called sanctuary city has irked the Trump administration, which used Chicago to kick off a nationwide crackdown on immigration weeks after Trump's second inauguration.

Pritzker and Trump, who has zeroed-in on Democrat-led cities, have traded barbs over the issue for days.

“The people are desperate for me to STOP THE CRIME, something the Democrats aren’t capable of doing,” Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social network.

In recent days, the administration has been pointing out recent shootings in the city, including at Thursday's White House press briefing when press secretary Karoline Leavitt listed crime statistics.

“This is JB Pritzker’s legacy, by the way,” she said.

Violent crime has dropped significantly in Chicago in recent years, but it remains a persistent problem in parts of the city.

Chicago had a homicide rate of 21.7 per 100,000 residents in 2024, according to analysis of federal data by the Rochester Institute of Technology. Seven other major U.S. cities -- St. Louis, New Orleans, Detroit, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Indianapolis and Richmond, Virginia -- had higher rates than Chicago.

Still, Chicago reported 573 homicides in 2024, the most of any U.S. city that year. At the same time, violent crime dropped significantly in the first half of this year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. In the first six months of 2025, total violent crime dropped by more than 22% compared with the first half of 2024.

In Illinois there are roughly 10,000 members of the Illinois Army National Guard and 3,000 Air National Guard. They routinely mobilize at armories around the state, including nearly a dozen in Chicago and its suburbs. But they are state-owed property and if the federal government mobilizes the Guard without the governor’s blessing, the armories aren't available for use.

This story has been updated to correct that the Navy base issued its statement Wednesday, not Thursday, and that Pete Buttigieg was transportation secretary under Joe Biden, not Barack Obama.

Associated Press writers Christine Fernando in Chicago and Chris Megerian and Rebecca Santana, both in Washington, contributed to this story. O'Connor reported from Springfield, Illinois.

Main entrance for Naval Station Great Lakes, about 35 miles north of Chicago, is seen, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Great Lakes, Ill. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Main entrance for Naval Station Great Lakes, about 35 miles north of Chicago, is seen, Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, in Great Lakes, Ill. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

FILE - The Naval Station Great Lakes is pictured, Jan. 24, 2020, in Ill. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald via AP, File)

President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

NEW YORK (AP) — Thursday was the final day to select an Affordable Care Act health insurance plan across much of the country, as the expiration of federal subsidies drives up health costs and lawmakers remain locked in a debate over how to address the issue.

That's when the open enrollment window ends in most states for plans that start in February. About 10 states that run their own marketplaces have later deadlines, or have extended them to the end of the month to give their residents more time.

The date is a crucial one for millions of small business owners, gig workers, farmers, ranchers and others who don't get their health insurance from a job and therefore rely on marketplace plans. A record 24 million Americans purchased Affordable Care Act health plans last year.

But this year, their decisions over health coverage have been more difficult than usual as clarity over how much it will cost is hard to come by. And so far, enrollment is lagging behind last year's numbers — with about 22.8 million Americans having signed up so far, according to federal data.

Last year, for months, it was unclear whether Congress would allow for the end-of-year expiration of COVID-era expanded subsidies that had offset costs for more than 90% of enrollees. Democrats forced a record-long government shutdown over the issue, but still couldn't get a deal done. So the subsidies expired Jan. 1, leaving the average subsidized enrollee with more than double the monthly premium costs for 2026, according to an analysis from the health care nonprofit KFF.

Still, the question of whether Congress would resurrect the tax credits loomed over Washington. Several enrollees told The Associated Press they have either delayed signing up for coverage or signed up with a plan to cancel as they anxiously watch what's happening on Capitol Hill.

Last week, the House passed a three-year extension of the subsidies after 17 Republicans joined with Democrats against the wishes of Republican leaders. But the Senate rejected a similar bill last year.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, has been leading a bipartisan group of 12 senators trying to devise a compromise and said this week that he expects to have a proposal by the end of the month. The contours of the senators’ bipartisan plan involves a two-year deal that would extend the enhanced subsidies while adding new limits on who can receive them. The proposal would also create the option, in the second year, of a new health savings account that President Donald Trump and Republicans prefer.

Under the deal being discussed, the ACA open enrollment period would be extended to March 1 of this year to allow people more time to figure out their coverage plans after the disruption.

Still, Republicans and Democrats say they have not completed the plan, and the two sides have yet to agree if there should be new limits on whether states can use separate funds for abortion coverage.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced outlines of a plan he wants Congress to consider that would. It would, among other things, redirect ACA subsidies into health savings accounts that go directly to consumers. Democrats have largely rebuffed this idea as inadequate for offsetting health costs for most people.

Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick and Lisa Mascaro contributed from Washington.

FILE - Pages from the U.S. Affordable Care Act health insurance website healthcare.gov are seen on a computer screen in New York, Aug. 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison, File)