Delphine Cherry knows as well as anyone how intractable violent crime is in Chicago. In 1992, her teenage daughter was gunned down in one of the city’s toniest neighborhoods — a bystander caught up in a gang shootout. Twenty years later in a suburb just south of the city, it claimed her son.
“You don’t think it’s going to happen twice in your life,” she said.
The nation’s third-largest city has braced for weeks for a National Guard deployment, troops President Donald Trump promised would help fight crime in what he described as a “hellhole.”
Though Chicago has had one of the highest rates of gun violence of any major American city for some time, city and state leaders overwhelmingly oppose the planned operation, calling it political theater. Even those most directly affected, including people who lost loved ones to violent crime, wonder how sending in troops would have a lasting effect.
In Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., troops acted as guards
With plans for the Chicago deployment unknown, the ways National Guard troops were used in Los Angeles and Washington this summer might offer clues.
In June, Trump deployed thousands of Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests over his administration’s immigration crackdown there. Though the troops initially were assigned to guard federal property, they also provided protection for immigration agents during raids and took part in a show of force at a park in a heavily immigrant neighborhood of LA that local officials believe was meant to sow fear.
In August, Trump mobilized federal forces to reduce crime and homelessness in Washington. The troops who were deployed have patrolled around Metro stations and in the most tourist-heavy parts of the nation’s capital, but they also were spotted picking up trash and raking leaves in city parks.
The White House reported that more than 2,100 arrests were made in the capital in the first few weeks after Trump announced the mobilization. Mayor Muriel Bowser credited the federal deployment with a drop in crime, including an 87% decline in carjackings, but also criticized the frequent immigration arrests by masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
An unusually high rate of dropped cases has some, including at least one judge, wondering whether prosecutors are making charging decisions before cases are properly investigated and vetted.
Washington is unique in that it is a federal district subject to laws giving Trump power to take over the local police force for up to 30 days. The decision to use troops to try to fight crime in other Democratic-controlled cities would represent an important escalation.
Chicago leaders call for more funding instead
The president’s criticism is often focused on how the Democratic leaders of Chicago and Illinois deal with crime. Chicago’s so-called sanctuary policies are among the country’s strongest and bar local police from cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker repeatedly pointed to a drop in crime in Chicago and asked for more federal funding for prevention programs instead of sending in the National Guard.
Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts
Last year, the city had 573 homicides, or 21 per every 100,000 residents, according to the Rochester Institute of Technology. That’s 25% fewer than in 2020 and was a lower rate than several other major U.S. cities. Like most big cities, violent crime isn’t evenly spread out in Chicago, with most shootings happening on the South and West sides.
“If it was about safety, then the Trump administration would not have slashed $158 million in federal funding for violence prevention programs this year,” said Yolanda Androzzo, executive director of gun violence prevention nonprofit One Aim Illinois.
Victims of violent crime doubt troops can make lasting change
After Cherry’s daughter, Tyesa, 16, was killed in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood by a stray bullet that a 14-year-old fired at rival gang members, the devastated mother moved her family to Hazel Crest, a suburb just south of the city.
Her son, Tyler, was fatally shot in the driveway of the family’s suburban home in 2012.
Though her children’s deaths made Cherry an antiviolence advocate — she sits on One Aim Illinois’ board — she doesn’t believe bringing in troops will do anything to fight crime in Chicago, and that it could making the streets more dangerous.
“They’re not going to ask questions,” Cherry said of the National Guard. “They are trained to kill on sight.”
Trevon Bosley, who was 7 years old when his 18-year-old brother, Terrell, was shot and killed in 2006 while unloading drums outside of a Church before band rehearsal, also thinks sending in troops isn’t the answer.
“There is so much love and so much community in Chicago,” said Bosley, whose brother’s killing remains unsolved. “There are communities that need help. When those resources are provided, they become just as beautiful as downtown, just as beautiful as the North Side.”
Bosley thinks better funding would make a real positive difference in parts of the city with the highest crime and poverty rates.
“It’s not like we have a police shortage,” he said. “The National Guard and police show up after a shooting has occurred. They don’t show up before. That’s not stopping or saving anyone.”
Be the first to know
Get local news delivered to your inbox!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.