Trump’s Campaign Against Chicago

On Saturday morning, an unremarkable intersection in southwest Chicago turned into a reflection of American power politics. Against the backdrop of escalating immigration raids, a federal officer shot a female driver who – according to Washington – had tried to ram a law enforcement vehicle, armed with a semiautomatic weapon. Evidence? None? The woman, a U.S. citizen named Marimar Martinez, survived, was taken to a hospital, and later placed in FBI custody. The Department of Homeland Security stated that the officers had only defended themselves after their vehicle was “boxed in by ten cars.” But witnesses describe the situation differently. A woman was shot, another man – Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz – arrested, allegedly also involved in the incident. His mother, Elizabeth Ruiz, said her son had called her during the gunfire, panicked and confused, before agents overpowered him. When she asked why he was being arrested, she received no answer.

Hours later, the streets were filled with demonstrators, many waving American and Mexican flags, whistling, shouting, some with tears in their eyes. “ICE go home,” they shouted as federal officers fired pepper balls back. We are currently investigating this incident and will report further tomorrow. Yet the scene that unfolded near 39th Street and South Kedzie Avenue was more than a local confrontation – it became a symbol of how far Donald Trump is now willing to go to enforce his idea of “law and order” through military force.

Even as protesters chanted at the scene and tear gas hung in the air, the president had already escalated to the next level. Three hundred soldiers of the Illinois National Guard are to be deployed to Chicago “to protect federal officers and federal property,” according to the White House order. It is the latest episode in a troubling pattern – Trump is sending troops to more and more cities, against the explicit will of the individual states. While Illinois Governor JB Pritzker called it an “un-American ultimatum,” Trump described the cities resisting his presence as “war zones.” The rhetoric sounds like martial law, the tone like war.

In Oregon, a court has for now placed limits on this power play. Federal Judge Karin Immergut blocked the planned federalization of the state’s National Guard because the protests Trump referred to were “small and largely uneventful.” Her reasoning recalls an almost forgotten truth – that America is “a nation of constitutional law, not of martial law.” But while Portland gained a judicial shield, a new chapter of intimidation began in Chicago. Armed and masked officers of the Border Patrol agency patrolled downtown, made arrests in Latino neighborhoods, and triggered a wave of fear with their presence. Residents reported tear gas near supermarkets, doors broken open without warrants, and an atmosphere reminiscent of martial law.

Governor Pritzker reacted angrily: “There is no reason for military troops on the ground in our state.” The security situation, he said, was under control, local authorities were cooperating, and no one had asked the federal government for help. But the order from Washington stands – and with it, a dangerous precedent. Trump has already sent troops to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Memphis, and New Orleans. He speaks of “unlawful cities,” of “enemies within,” and of “violent criminals” who can only be stopped by military means. For many, the language recalls past dictatorships in which political symbolism triumphed over legal boundaries.

In Memphis, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last week launched a new “crime task force,” flanked by Attorney General Pam Bondi and Trump’s chief ideologue Stephen Miller. More than 200 officers were “deputized,” placed under federal command. Over 50 arrests in two days – figures the White House hails as a success, though critics see them as a dangerous militarization of the civil sphere. In New Orleans, Republican Governor Jeff Landry welcomed the move enthusiastically, even though crime there in 2025 has fallen to its lowest level in five decades. What once counted as statistical reality now matters less than political narrative – those who stand with Trump are free to proclaim their own truth.

California shows where this leads. When the president sent Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles over the summer, Governor Gavin Newsom sued – and won. A federal judge found the measure likely unlawful, yet the appeals court temporarily suspended the decision. The dispute continues, the troops remain. It is a pattern that now repeats itself – a president confronted with legal obstacles who ignores them by creating faits accomplis.

At the same time, the administration is staging a PR spectacle. Kristi Noem, Trump’s secretary of homeland security, announced in a podcast that ICE agents would be “everywhere” at the Super Bowl – the largest cultural event in the United States. Her words sounded like a threat: “Only law-abiding Americans who love this country should be there.” Superstar Bad Bunny, who will headline the halftime show and has criticized Trump’s policies, was thus indirectly turned into an enemy image. The fact that the musician is from Puerto Rico seems sufficient to cast him, in the government’s rhetoric, under suspicion and loyalty testing. Noem said verbatim: “They (the NFL) don’t like us, but God will bless us – and we will win.”

This blend of religious exaltation, nationalist severity, and bureaucratic coldness has become the hallmark of Trump’s second term. In the streets of Chicago, where gunfire echoed and tear gas drifted through Latino neighborhoods, the real meaning of this policy is laid bare. People stay home, businesses close, neighbors whisper about night raids. “My friends don’t want to go to work,” said a man who is in the country legally. “We’re all afraid.” A young nurse from Gage Park added, “Whether legal or not – ICE treats us as if we’re all suspects.”

What is being sold as a “protective measure” in truth bears the face of intimidation. The White House speaks of “law and order,” but on the streets, the opposite is emerging – a climate of fear that undermines democracy by erasing the line between citizens and enemies. And while courts in Oregon still find the courage to set limits, Trump simply overrides them in Illinois. The president, who has been speaking for months about “taking back control of the country,” seems to have forgotten that control without legitimacy is not victory – it is occupation.