WATCH: Pritzker focuses on violence intervention; VP won’t confirm deployments

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Vice President J.D. Vance is not confirming reports shared by Gov. J.B. Pritzker that federal deployments may arrive in Illinois this week.

Pritzker spoke in Chicago Wednesday and said he had no official confirmation about National Guard or Immigrations and Customs Enforcement deployments.

“What we’re hearing is that they’ll be assembled, ready to go on Friday and that they’ll begin actions on Saturday, over the weekend,” Pritzker said.

The Vice President spoke in Minnesota and said there are no immediate plans to send in the National Guard, but he would leave it up to President Donald Trump.

“We want the governor to be a partner here. We would love it, Democrat or Republican, if we had governors who were willing to actually be partners in cutting down crime in our country. Unfortunately, it looks like that’s not what we have in J.B. Pritzker,” Vance said.

Trump said Tuesday he would send in the National Guard, and he would be honored to get a call from Pritzker.

The governor reiterated Wednesday that he would not call the President.

“He’s going to end up in court, and that will be a fact that they will use in court, that the governor called to ask for help,” Pritzker said.

The governor spoke at Metropolitan Peace Academy in Chicago after meeting with people from community violence intervention programs.

Metropolitan Peace Academy has received both federal and state taxpayer funding.

“Community Violence Intervention Programs have a clear and demonstrated track record of reducing crime and making our communities safer, which is why my administration has invested historic amounts into them,” Pritzker said in a statement.

The governor also met with representatives from the Midwest Immigrant Defenders Alliance, a coalition of seven immigrant legal service providers that built a referral system for Illinois residents in immigration detention to access legal representation.

Chicago Flips Red Vice President Danielle Carter-Walters said the city’s political leaders have failed to protect American citizens in Chicago and Illinois. She called for Trump to order a forensic audit of city departments and crime prevention funding.

“Because we know, with all this crime that’s going on, we know the money is not being spent towards the crime prevention, and we are also down 2,000 officers,” Carter-Walters said Tuesday.

Illinois has a history of spending taxpayer dollars on similar programs.

The former Gov. Pat Quinn-era Neighborhood Recovery Initiative doled out tens of millions of dollars to nonprofit anti-violence groups throughout the state over several years before the 2014 election. An investigation found little grant oversight and significant waste.

Greg Bishop and Sarah Roderick-Fitch contributed to this story.