Columbia is keeping a close watch on reports that the National Guard and federal law enforcement personnel may be operating in Chicago this week, though college officials said the campus itself will remain open and fully operational.

In an email sent Wednesday, Sept. 3, the college notified the campus community that at this time, classes will proceed as scheduled. 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced the day before that National Guard troops were prepared to move into Chicago.

“In the absence of significant federal coordination we have gathered information from unauthorized patriotic officials inside the government and from well sourced reporters,” Pritzker said at a news conference, which was live-streamed on Illinois.gov. “We have reason to believe that the Trump administration has already begun staging the Texas National Guard for deployment.”

President Donald Trump has been threatening to deploy troops to Chicago for weeks as part of a broader crackdown on undocumented immigration, homelessness and crime. In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump called Chicago the “worst and most dangerous city in the world,” which is statistically not accurate. 

Trump already has sent troops to Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

At the news conference, Pritzker joined city and county leaders in denouncing Trump’s threats to deploy troops as part of a broader crackdown on undocumented immigration, homelessness and crime in Democratic-led cities. 

Leslie Huerta, a first-year music business major who has immigrant parents, said the situation is incredibly frightening.

“It’s scary knowing my parents are home, knowing that I might get a call saying “oh yeah, your parents are deported,” Huerta said. “That’s the most terrifying thing that I can think of when I’m over here at school, and also it can happen to me because of the way I look — which is kind of ridiculous.”

About 300 soldiers are still stationed in Los Angeles, where 4,000 National Guard troops and hundreds of marines were deployed in early June. These remaining soldiers will be allowed to stay there, even after a federal ruling by the U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco on Tuesday found the Trump administration guilty of “willfully” breaking federal law by sending troops to the L.A. area.

In Washington D.C., the administration sent about 800 National Guard troops on Aug. 11, and the number has climbed to 2,300 as of Aug. 25. This week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signaled her intent to cooperate with Trump and allow the federal law enforcement surge to continue in spite of her earlier objections.

In Illinois, Pritzker, a possible Democratic nominee for president in 2028, said he refuses “to pretend any of this is normal.”

A Chronicle reporter and photographer were denied access to the news conference by a security guard at the Illinois Department of Human Rights office in downtown Chicago.

Local officials said Trump’s deployment of federal troops would override state and city authority, escalate tensions around immigration enforcement and potentially endanger communities already targeted by federal raids. 

“Their presence has not been requested by local leaders,” Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at the conference. “The streets of Chicago belong to the residents of Chicago. They do not belong to federal troops. They do not belong to those who would use intimidation and violence as tools of political oppression.”

Over Labor Day weekend, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem confirmed that the Trump administration would soon expand ICE operations in Chicago but did not comment on the planned deployment of the National Guard.

The administration plans to use Naval Station Great Lakes, a military base about 35 miles north of downtown Chicago, as a base to support federal law enforcement. 

Pritzker said at the news conference that it is “truly extraordinary” for the federal government to act without coordinating with local law enforcement and local government.

He said he expects that throughout September, ICE agents will target Latino communities within Chicago as they celebrate Mexican Independence Day, which takes place on Sept. 16 and typically includes festivals, fairs, events and parades around the city.

Though the Trump administration claims that the federal intervention is aimed at violent criminals, Pritzker said that “more and more reports around these raids include people who were stopped or detained because of how they look and not because of any threat to the public.”

Kayla Morris, a sophomore performance and songwriting major, said the college can help students understand the history of different neighborhoods in Chicago through Big Chicago courses and show that stereotypes around these areas “can be said about any major city ever.”

According to Morris, The Trump administration is “driving stereotypes that Chicago is just this crazy, super unsafe city when the reality of it is that it’s not unsafe.”

“There’s a lot of minorities that live here, and it’s a very diverse city, but it’s not unsafe at all, but all these National Guard threats just try and drive the stereotype that it’s unsafe,” Morris said.

According to data from TRAC Immigration, as of Aug. 24, 70.3% of those held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction.

“None of this is about fighting crime or making Chicago safer,” Pritzker said, “It’s about testing his power and producing a political drama to cover up for his corruption.”

During the conference, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson also made clear the city’s stance: “We do not want or need military occupation in our city. We do not want or need militarized immigration enforcement in our city.”

Johnson issued an executive order that aims to hold federal law enforcement under Chicago’s municipal rules on policing.

Over the Labor Day weekend, eight people were killed and 50 others were wounded due to dozens of shootings in the city. However, the mayor’s office reports that violent crime is down 24% compared to last year, countering Trump’s claim that Chicago is a hot spot for crime.

Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton advised residents to learn about their rights from the Free Migration Project website. The family support hotline is 1-855-435-7693.

“This version of America is not safe for anyone’s American dream, but it can be if we take each other’s hands and push back against this hate with every fiber of our being,” Stratton said. 

Ramina Daood, a senior American Sign Language major, said the potential deployment of National Guards the first week of school is “pretty hectic” but also said she is not too worried about safety on campus. 

“I believe that students, as long as they’re at Columbia, they’re safe,” Daood said. “But when they’re out, people do need to be careful and watch out and just not interact too much” with the federal troops.

Additional reporting from Matt Brady and Sofia Oyarzún.

Copy edited by Matt Brady