Trump Attacks Chicago

From the Senate floor to the city streets, it’s the same playbook: cruelty as policy.

Oct 10, 2025

Two major stories are dominating U.S. politics right now, and both involve Republicans targeting undocumented immigrants to distract from their own failures.

Government Shutdown

The federal government has been shut down since October 1, 2025, after Congress failed to pass appropriations bills for the 2026 fiscal year. As a result:

750,000 federal employees could be furloughed.
Millions of active duty military personnel will be forced to work without pay.
Air travel has been disrupted, with roughly 20,000 flight delays so far.

Donald Trump and the Republican Party control the White House, the Senate, and the House of Representatives. Despite unified control of government, they’ve managed to grind it to a halt because they’re either unwilling or unable to govern responsibly.

Instead of doing the hard work of compromise, Republicans are falling back on their oldest play: blame immigrants.

Even before the shutdown began, Vice President J.D. Vance falsely claimed that Democrats were “threatening to shut down the government because they want to give hundreds of billions of dollars of health-care benefits to illegal aliens.” Speaker Mike Johnson has repeated that lie multiple times since, going so far as to claim that Democrats want hospitals to be paid more for treating undocumented immigrants than U.S. citizens.

They’re lying, plain and simple. Here’s the truth:

Passing appropriations requires 60 votes in the Senate, meaning at least seven Democratic votes are needed. This isn’t new. Every administration without a 60-vote majority has had to negotiate bipartisan funding deals.
Senate Democrats have asked for two key provisions in exchange for their votes:
1. Extending ACA premium tax credits, which prevent millions of Americans’ health-insurance premiums from spiking.
2. Restoring cuts to Medicaid and other health-related programs that Republicans imposed in their “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

None of that amounts to “hundreds of billions for free health care for illegal immigrants.”

Under current federal law, undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid, Medicare, or ACA premium tax credits. Hospitals do receive emergency Medicaid reimbursements for providing emergency care to uninsured patients, but less than 1 percent of that spending goes to undocumented immigrants.

If Republicans succeed in keeping their health-care cuts, premiums will rise by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars for more than 20 million Americans.

So the choice before Trump and the GOP is simple:

Negotiate with Democrats to fund the government and protect affordable health care, or
Keep the government shut down, furlough hundreds of thousands of workers, force members of the military to work without pay, and raise health-care costs for millions.

So far, their choice has been clear: shut it down and raise the cost of healthcare.

Immigration Raids in Chicago

Donald Trump has once again escalated his unconstitutional campaign of violence against blue cities, this time targeting my hometown, Chicago.

Against the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Trump has federalized the Illinois National Guard and deployed units of the Texas National Guard to the city.

Let’s be clear: there is no crisis in Chicago that requires a military presence. Any civil unrest we’re seeing is the direct result of Trump’s decision to flood the city with federal agents. Agents who have already engaged in violent and unlawful actions.

What’s Happened Since Trump’s Escalation

ICE agents shot and killed Chicago resident Silverio Villegas González.
More than 300 federal agents raided an apartment complex, rappelling from Black Hawk helicopters. Apartments were ransacked. Children and U.S. citizens were detained.
A CBP agent shot unarmed childcare worker Marimar Martinez, later claiming she rammed a government vehicle. Body-cam footage showed agents turning into her car instead. One agent can be heard saying, “Do something, bitch,” moments before firing.
Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh were both pepper-sprayed by ICE agents at separate protests. Abughazaleh was also slammed to the ground.
ICE agents detained Chicago Alderman Jessie Fuentes.
A Chicago pastor was shot in the head with a pepper ball while praying during a protest.

Meanwhile, Trump has publicly called for the arrests of both Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor Pritzker.

This is what happens when untrained, unaccountable federal forces are unleashed on American cities and told by the president to use extralegal violence against both immigrants and citizens.

Who They’re Really Targeting

The Trump administration insists these operations are focused only on “violent criminals.” That’s not true.

By their own data, only about half of those arrested were “targeted” arrests. The rest were “collateral,” people swept up simply for being nearby.

These aren’t criminals. They’re:

Mothers waiting to pick up their children from school,
Workers standing outside a Home Depot,
Neighbors stopping for coffee before work,
Longtime residents who have lived here for decades, paid taxes, raised families, and made our city stronger.

They don’t deserve to be ripped from their homes.
Their children don’t deserve to go to school afraid that no one will be there when they return.

And law-abiding members of our community are being harassed and assaulted for nothing more than their skin color or the language they speak.

I know the national political fight is about healthcare. I understand why national Democrats have chosen the route. Ultimately, it might be the most politically prudent.

But what is happening in Chicago, LA, Portland, and cities across the country is the issue of my lifetime.

Masked federal agents terrorizing neighborhoods, arresting people without warrants or due process, isn’t just cruelty.

It’s a direct assault on American democracy.

We can’t allow this to stand.