During remarks on the Senate floor Monday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) criticized President Trump's Truth Social post where he said Chicago was "about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR."
00:00Madam President, this past Saturday, the President of the United States of America posted a shocking, grotesque message on social media.
00:13Accompanied by an AI-generated image of military helicopters flying over a burning Chicago skyline with explosions in the background,
00:23the President of the United States posted that he, quote, loves the smell of deportations in the morning, close quote.
00:34And he went on to say that Chicago is, quote, about to find out why it's called the Department of War, close quote.
00:42Let me remind you that this outrageous vision of an American city that I love, under attack from Trump's Department of War,
00:53comes from a man who aspires to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
01:00President Trump attempted to walk back his comments yesterday.
01:04But let's be clear.
01:08The President of the United States essentially declared war on an American city, a city I am honored to represent.
01:16He may think it's a joke.
01:19To me, it's no joke.
01:21It is unprecedented and dangerous threat by a President against American people.
01:26What 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?
01:39I cannot imagine.
01:41But 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
01:51and deployment of the National Guard in the city of Chicago.
01:54He claims these extraordinary steps are aimed at reducing crime and getting violent criminals off the streets.
02:03Mr. President, you want to reduce crime in Chicago and across this country?
02:07Count me in.
02:09Let me give you a few ideas of things that you can do as President of the United States which can make a serious difference.
02:16Number one, when we take a look at the guns used in crime in the city of Chicago, guess what we find?
02:22A large percentage of them comes from a neighboring state of Indiana with lax laws when it comes to background checks on purchases of firearms.
02:34If we get a little tougher and we have actual background checks, we're going to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
02:42That's something you can do, Mr. President.
02:44And when it comes to fentanyl and narcotics, guess what we find?
02:5270% of the crime guns in Mexico are coming in there from the United States.
03:00Our gun dealers are selling guns to the cartels in Mexico which are using them to gun down police and military in Mexico.
03:09What an outrage.
03:12Why don't we do something about that, Mr. President?
03:15It might actually reduce crime.
03:18Count me in on reducing crime, but deporting people who are innocent, who have no criminal background whatsoever, is not the answer.
03:28We can all agree we should be working together to reduce violent crime.
03:31But in this case, we know it's just a front when it comes to the Trump administration.
03:37I've learned in the years that I've been involved in politics that when it comes to issues, there's always a good reason and a real reason.
03:46So what's the real reason that Donald Trump wants to send National Guardsmen into the city of Chicago?
03:54He's targeting Chicago for political theater.
03:58He finds objections to crime in communities that are governed by Democrats, but not Republicans.
04:08He's attacking Democratic officials so he can distract from the failures of his own policies and scandals, plaguing his own administration.
04:18He wants us pleased to forget the so-called Big Beautiful Bill.
04:23Remember that one?
04:25Trump's budget bill?
04:26Well, it's going to take health care protection away from 17 million Americans.
04:33And it's going to make it difficult for rural hospitals in my state of Illinois to survive.
04:41Why would any president want to take health insurance protection away from 17 million individuals?
04:47Why would they want to jeopardize the hospitals that are so critical for survival in rural America?
04:53Well, the reason is obvious.
04:56The president has decided that he wants to take the revenue from cutting back on health care and provide for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
05:08Instead of listening to the communities and the families that I represent, he's listening to the fat cats and providing tax breaks for billionaires.
05:17What do you think it means in tax breaks for average people?
05:22Let's assume you're on the low end of income earning, $35,000 a year.
05:29How much is the Trump tax break for you?
05:32It turns out to be $3 a week.
05:36$3 a week.
05:38And what if you happen to be Elon Musk, a billionaire with unestablished limits of money that he has raised?
05:49We don't know how much it's worth.
05:51But how much is the tax break going to be worth, the Trump tax break, for Elon Musk?
05:57It's going to be worth $30,000 a week.
06:00$3 for the family struggling, $30,000 for Elon Musk.
06:08For what?
06:10I don't know why.
06:12And when it comes to the subject of these raids, National Guard and other units of government,
06:18there's been a lot of speculation about what the president actually is going to do in his so-called Operation Midway Blitz.
06:26So here on the Senate floor, let me set the record straight as to what I know where it stands.
06:34Earlier today, when the administration announced they're calling Operation Midway Blitz in Chicago
06:39to crack down on undocumented immigrants with criminal records.
06:42However, if their D.C. experience is any indication, we know most of the people that they'll arrest have no criminal background.
06:52They're not rapists, terrorists, murderers, or criminally insane.
06:59So this weekend, I traveled to the Naval Station Great Lakes with Senator Tammy Duckworth and Representative Brad Schneider.
07:06There were reports that DHS intends to use the Navy base to assist in these raids.
07:14There were concerns that the federal government would operate a sort of deportation command center out on the base.
07:21At a productive meeting with leadership on the base, we were ensured that the base would not be used as a detention center for detainees.
07:31Here is what happened as part of that federal assistance request.
07:34The base will provide parking, office space, and the ability to store certain non-lethal munitions for the DHS through October the 5th.
07:46Most importantly, the service members at Naval Station Great Lakes will not be aiding in these raids.
07:53Naval Station Great Lakes is known to every Navy family.
07:57Every recruit to the Navy goes through training at the Great Lakes.
08:00Each Thursday, there is a celebration of the completion of their nine weeks of training.
08:08And 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.
08:16That's what they do, and do so well, and have for decades.
08:19Most importantly, the service members of Naval Station Great Lakes will not see the recruitment and training of these young sailors suffer any blow because of the Trump-crazed idea of invading the city of Chicago.
08:35I've been honored to represent Great Lakes as a 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.
08:48My concern is to make sure that no exercise of political theater by the current president was an obstacle to the mission at that base.
08:57That appears to be the case, but I'm going to continue to closely monitor the situation.
09:03However, 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.
09:15We wanted to get firsthand from them what was going to happen in that operation.
09:20The expenditure of federal funds for purposes, which we were going to ask them to explain.
09:26Do 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 is supposedly using as part of this invasion of Chicago?
09:41They closed the building.
09:43They 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're going to do.
09:52Why are they running and hiding if they're proud of the president's policy, if they actually believe that they are there to fight crime?
10:01I think they know better.
10:03They know the politics of this situation.
10:05They locked the doors and they refused to make anyone available to two senators and a congressman representing that area.
10:13They fled so we could not conduct oversight of their secretive effort and it certainly begs the question, what are they trying to hide?
10:24We now have a better understanding of exactly what they want to do.
10:27It's all politics.
10:30In addition to our visit to Naval Station Great Lakes, I've been seeking answers to the potential military employment because the people of Chicago, and I do, have a right to know.
10:41That's why I've used all my tools at my disposal to get to the bottom of this, despite roadblocks by the administration.
10:50Last week, I sent a letter to Attorney General Bondi, Secretaries Noam and Hagseth, and FBI Director Patel requesting immediate information regarding the increased law enforcement and potential military presence in Chicago.
11:04I 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.
11:18If this president and this administration want to join in fighting crime on a cooperative, bipartisan basis, count me in.
11:25But political theater, visions of Chicago being blown up by a Department of War, I want no part of it.
11:33As this situation unfolds, my office remains in constant contact and coordination with state and local officials, community leaders, and my colleagues in Congress.
11:43I'll continue to provide updates to Illinois as we learn more.
11:47These are scary times.
11:50The president is using fear to deflect and drive a wedge among us.
11:56Unfortunately, he seems to be succeeding to some extent.
12:00But the people of Chicago won't take kindly to a bully and a wannabe dictator.
12:06On Saturday evening, thousands of marchers peacefully passed by Trump Tower and filled the streets of Chicago to make their voices heard.
12:15They were clear in their call.
12:16Mr. President, do not send the military here for political purposes.
12:22I was happy to join in a parade in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago to celebrate Mexican Independence Day.
12:29These are good people, good families, hardworking, churchgoing, doing their best in a tough economy to survive.
12:37They are not a threat to anyone's safety, and they're certainly not the cause of crime in Chicago.
12:42At that celebration, there was an attendee by the name of Liliana.
12:47She felt it was important to come out on behalf of many who were scared to leave their homes.
12:52Standing on the sidewalk, she said,
12:53We'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.
13:03Thank you, Liliana.
13:04She's right.
13:05In the face of threats and intimidation, our immigrant community and Chicago as a whole will stand firm and stand tall.
13:14Let us join together as a nation to fight crime and to fight the gun epidemic that is part of violent crime.
13:21But arresting or deporting innocent families is not the way to fight crime.
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