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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, this past Saturday, the President of the United States of America posted a shocking, grotesque message on social media. Accompanied by an AI-generated image of military helicopters flying over a burning Chicago skyline with explosions in the background, the President of the United States posted that he ``loves the smell of deportations in the morning.''

And he went on to say that Chicago is ``about to find out why it is called the Department of War.''

Let me remind you that this outrageous vision of an American city that I love under attack from Trump's Department of War comes from a man who aspires to be awarded the Noble Peace Prize.

President Trump attempted to walk back his comments yesterday. But let's be clear, the President of the United States essentially declared war on an American city, a city I am honored to represent. He may think it is a joke. To me, it is no joke. It is an unprecedented and dangerous threat by a President against the American people.

What is the limit to his power, and where is the line to be drawn if a President is able to go to war against a city he also represents? I cannot imagine. But even if we put this aside for a moment, let's consider the justifications President Trump is using for his threat of a beefed-up immigration raid and deployment of the National Guard in the city of Chicago.

He claims these extraordinary steps are aimed at reducing crime and getting violent criminals off the streets.

Mr. President, you want to reduce crime in Chicago and across this country? Count me in. Let me give you a few ideas of things you can do as President of the United States which can make a serious difference.

No 1., when we take a look at the guns used in crime in the city of Chicago, guess what we find. A large percentage of them come from the neighboring State of Indiana, with lax laws when it comes to background checks on purchases of firearms.

If we get a little tougher and we have actual background checks, we are going to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

That is something you can do, Mr. President. You can show some leadership.

When it comes to fentanyl and narcotics, guess what we find. Seventy percent of the crime guns in Mexico are coming in there from the United States. Our gun dealers are selling guns to the cartels in Mexico, which are using them to gun down police and military in Mexico. What an outrage.

Why don't we do something about that, Mr. President? It might actually reduce crime.

Count me in on reducing crime, but deporting people who are innocent who have no criminal background whatsoever is not the answer.

We can all agree we should be working together to reduce violent crime, but in this case, we know it is just a front when it comes to the Trump administration.

I have learned in the years that I have been involved in politics that when it comes to issues, there is always a good reason and a real reason. So what is the real reason that Donald Trump wants to send National Guardsmen into the city of Chicago?

He is targeting Chicago for political theater. He finds objections to crime in communities that are governed by Democrats but not Republicans. He is attacking Democratic officials so he can distract from the failures of his own policies and scandals plaguing his own administration. He wants his pleas to forget the so-called Big Beautiful Bill--remember that one, Trump's budget bill? It is going to take healthcare protection away from 17 million Americans, and it is going make it difficult for rural hospitals in my State of Illinois to survive.

Why would any President want to take health insurance protection away from 17 million individuals? Why would they want to jeopardize the hospitals that are so critical for survival in rural America? Well, the reason is obvious.

The President has decided that he wants to take the revenue from cutting back on healthcare and provide for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Instead of listening to the communities and the families whom I represent, he is listening to the fat cats and providing tax breaks for billionaires.

What do you think it means in tax breaks for average people? Let's assume you are on the low end of income earning, $35,000 a year. How much is the Trump tax break for you? It turns out to be $3 a week--$3 a week.

What if you happen to be Elon Musk, a billionaire with unestablished limits of money that he has raised? We don't know how much it is worth. But how much is the tax break going to be worth, the Trump tax break, for Elon Musk? It is going to be worth $30,000 a week; $3 for the families struggling, $30,000 for Elon Musk.

For what? I don't know why.

When it comes to the subject of these raids, National Guard and other units of government, there has been a lot of speculation about what the President is actually going to do in his so-called Operation Midway Blitz.

So here on the Senate floor, let me set the record straight as to what I know, where it stands.

Earlier today, the administration announced what they are calling Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago to crack down on undocumented immigrants with criminal records. However, if their DC experience is any indication, we know most of the people that they will arrest have no criminal background. They are not rapists, terrorists, murderers, or criminally insane.

So this weekend I traveled to the Naval Station Great Lakes with Senator Tammy Duckworth and Representative Brad Schneider. There were reports that DHS intends to use the Navy base to assist in these raids. There were concerns that the Federal Government would operate a sort of deportation ``command center'' out of the base.

At a productive meeting with leadership on the base, we were ensured the base would not be used as a detention center for detainees.

Here is what happened as part of that Federal assistance request. The base will provide parking, office space, and the ability to store certain nonlethal munitions for the DHS through October 5. Most importantly, the servicemembers at Naval Station Great Lakes will not be aiding in these raids.

Naval Station Great Lakes is known to every Navy family. Every recruit to the Navy goes through training at the Great Lakes. Each Thursday, there is a celebration of the completion of their 9 weeks of training, and families come from all over the United States to celebrate their son or daughter who is becoming part of the greatest Navy in the world. That is what they do and do so well and have for decades.

Most importantly, the servicemembers of Naval Station Great Lakes will not see recruitment and training of these young sailors suffer any blow because of the Trump-crazed idea of invading the city of Chicago.

I have been honored to represent Great Lakes as the Senator from the State of Illinois and to provide it with the support and resources needed to train the recruits who walk through those doors.

My concern is to make sure that no exercise of political theater by the current President was an obstacle to the mission at this base. That appears to be the case, but I am going to continue to closely monitor the situation.

However, as part of our visit to the base, we asked to meet with the Department of Homeland Security, which is going to rent an office building for 30 days. We wanted to get firsthand from them what was going to happen in that operation; the expenditure of Federal funds for its purposes, which we were going to ask them to explain.

Do you know what the response was of the Trump Department of Homeland Security when we went to the actual naval base, to the office building which they have rented and are supposedly using as part of this invasion of Chicago? They closed the building. They locked it so we couldn't go inside and announced they were taking administrative leave and would be unavailable to even discuss with us what they are going to do.

Why are they running and hiding if they are proud of the President's policy? if they actually believe that they are there to fight crime? I think they know better. They know the politics of this situation. They locked the doors, and they refused to make anyone available to two Senators and a Congressman representing that area. They fled so we cannot conduct oversight of their secretive effort, which certainly begs the question: What are they trying to hide?

We now have a better understanding of exactly what they want to do. It is all politics.

In addition to our visit to Naval Station Great Lakes, I have been seeking answers to the potential military deployment because the people of Chicago and I do have a right to know. That is why I use all the tools at my disposal to get to the bottom of this despite roadblocks by the administration.

Last week, I sent a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Secretaries Noem and Hegseth, and FBI Director Patel requesting immediate information regarding the increased law enforcement and potential military presence in Chicago. I sent a letter to my colleague and friend on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Grassley, requesting an immediate hearing on President Trump's threats to deploy the military to Chicago and other American cities.

If this President and this administration want to join in fighting crime on a cooperative, bipartisan basis, count me in, but political theater, visions of Chicago being blown up by a Department of War--I want no part of it.

As this situation unfolds, my office remains in constant contact and coordination with State and local officials, community leaders, and my colleagues in Congress. I will continue to provide updates to Illinois as we learn more.

These are scary times. The President is using fear to deflect and drive a wedge among us. Unfortunately, he seems to be succeeding to some extent, but the people of Chicago won't take kindly to a bully and a wannabe dictator.

On Saturday evening, thousands of marchers peacefully passed by Trump Tower and filled the streets of Chicago to make their voices heard. They were clear in their call: Mr. President, do not send the military here for political purposes.

I was happy to join in the parade in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.

These are good people, good families, hard-working, churchgoing, doing their best in a tough economy to survive. They are not a threat to anyone's safety, and they are certainly not the cause of crime in Chicago.

At that celebration, there was an attendee by the name of Liliana. She felt it was important to come out on behalf of many who were scared to leave their homes. Standing out on the sidewalk, she said:

We're here. We're not going away. No matter what generation, no matter what threat, no matter what President is in office--we're not going away.

Thank you, Liliana.

She is right. In the face of threats and intimidation, our immigrant community in Chicago as a whole will stand firm and stand tall.

Let us join together as a nation to fight crime and to fight the gun epidemic that is part of violent crime, but arresting and deporting innocent families is not the way to fight crime.

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