At his press conference on September 2 in the White House, the President was asked about potential plans to send National Guard troops into Chicago to reduce the violence that has led to dozens of shootings over the past summer.

Responding to the question, the President said that right now other places around the world that are considered to be dangerous are safer than Chicago and Baltimore.

"There's no place, there's no place in the world, including you can go to Afghanistan, you can go to places that you would think of. They don't even come close to this. Chicago is a hellhole right now, Baltimore is a hellhole right now," the President said.

Asked as a follow up if he had made up his mind on federal intervention, similar to what was done in Washington, D.C., Trump said, "Well, we're going in, I didn't say when we're going in. When you lose, look, I have an obligation, this isn't a political thing, I have an obligation. When we lose, when 20 people are killed over the last two and a half weeks, and 75 are shot with bullets...."

The President then emphasized that federal action in Washington had been effective. 

"Washington, DC is a safe zone right now, it's a safe city," he said. "The restaurants are open, they're booming, you can't get a restaurant, new restaurants are announcing that they're going to be open. This took place in 12 days, now it's 15 days, but three days ago it became what's known as a safe zone, it's a safe city, and this city was really bad, really, really bad. We took 1,600 people out,(...) hardcore criminals that will not be coming back anytime soon, and we're very proud of it."

He then returned to a point he had made in previous days, saying that he wished the governors would make a request for help. But, he indicated, the federal government would have to take action to stop the violence even without that request.

"[I]f the Governor of Illinois would call up, call me up. I would love to do it. Now, we're going to do it anyway. We have the right to do it, because I have an obligation to protect this country...."

Separately, according to the Associated Press, on Saturday Illinois was notified that federal immigration enforcement was on the way to the state.

"The state received its first contact about federal intervention on Saturday when the head of the Illinois State Police got a call from Gregory Bovino, chief of the Border Patrol’s El Centro, California, sector, saying immigration agents would come to Chicago, according to Pritzker," the AP reported. "The governor said no further details were offered."

Despite the recent violence in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend, the Illinois Policy Institute notes that homicides are actually down this year in the city. 

"Chicago saw fewer homicides during the 12 months through June 2025 than during any period in the past decade," the organization reported. 

On the other hand, law enforcement in the city seems to be struggling to cope with the violence.  The Illinois Policy Institute also noted that the city "saw the arrest rate fall to 27% compared to 42% a decade ago."

Perhaps this is due to the city's radical left-wing Democrat leadership that thinks criminals should not be incarcerated, a point emphasized by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

Standing before Democrat leaders including governor J.B. Pritzker, Johnson said "it is racist, it is immoral, it is unholy" to put criminals in jail.