Amid Trump’s Threats of Military Deployment, Duckworth Meets with Illinois Latino Leaders

Amid Trump's Threats of Military Deployment, Duckworth Meets with Illinois Latino Leaders

[BERWYN, IL] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today met with leaders from the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, including State Senator Celina Villanueva (IL-SD-12), State Representative Norma Hernandez (IL-HD-77) and 14^th Ward Alderwoman Jeylú Gutierrez to discuss Donald Trump's recent ICE raids across the country, his threatened ICE and military deployments in Chicago and how his threats are harming immigrant communities-impacting everything from economic stability to education and workforce development. A photo from the meeting is available on the Senator's website.

"As our local officials have made clear to Donald Trump, there is no need to deploy troops to Chicago and incite fear in our neighborhoods and intimidate Americans in their own communities," Duckworth said. "The consequences of his unwarranted and unjust threats and actions are harming immigrant communities, immigrant-owned small businesses and the American workers they employ-while simultaneously distracting the military from its core mission of keeping our country safe from real adversaries who wish us harm. Diversity makes our country and economy stronger, and I will never stop advocating for immigrant communities and small businesses as we push back against Trump's authoritarian playbook."

Yesterday, Duckworth joined U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Representative Brad Schneider (D-IL-10) to visit Naval Station Great Lakes amid President Trump's plans to support U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers and his threats to deploy the military to Chicago. During the lawmakers' meeting at the base, they were taken through the process of how the Naval Station Great Lakes' involvement with President Trump's plans came to be. Durbin, Duckworth and Schneider requested a meeting with DHS and were denied, and they were also locked out of the office space that DHS intends to use after requesting entry to it.

On Wednesday, Duckworth hosted a telephone town hall for Chicagoans to discuss how Trump's plans to send troops into the city will only undermine our military's readiness and distract our servicemembers from executing their core mission of keeping Americans safe from the real adversaries who wish us harm.

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