With the threat of the National Guard coming to Chicago still looming, members of the City Council Public Safety Committee spoke out against the Trump administration's plans, saying there are better alternatives to helping the city fight crime.

Three aldermen agreed the city needs help when it comes to tackling violence, especially after 58 people were shot, eight of them fatally, over the Labor Day weekend; but each of them said the National Guard isn't the answer.

"I don't see how bringing a militarized National Guard response to Chicago helps us with the crime problem that we do have," said Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), who chairs the Committee on Public Safety.

Hopkins said the possibility of the National Guard in the city brings with it the potential for counterdemonstrators, protestors, and armed confrontations like what's been seen in Los Angeles after troops were deployed there in response to protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

"That was something we don't want to see repeated here, but we know the potential is there for that to occur," Hopkins said.

Hopkins says his understanding is that federal law enforcement agents would be brought in to Chicago, followed by the National Guard. He said, if National Guard troops were deployed in Chicago, they would serve as a visual deterrent to crime, but he said that's not the answer.

"If we have tanks on the streets of Michigan Avenue, but I don't think really that's the image we want to project. I've seen the pictures of Washington D.C. right now. It looks very unsettling. It's like a police state," he said.

Ald. Nicholas Sposato (36th), who days after President Trump's victory in the 2024 election attended a City Council committee meeting with a Trump flag attached to his wheelchair, also opposes having the National Guard in Chicago.

Sposato said having the National Guard in neighborhoods they are unfamiliar with would not only be putting those soldiers in harm's way, but could potentially be, a recipe for disaster.

"We need help. I just think the National Guard is the wrong idea," he said. "I'm very worried, because a lot of these kids are 18-, 19-year-old kids, not from Chicagoland, and they're going to be in a strange area. If they're in some rough neighborhoods, I'm very worried about what may happen to them."

Ald. Matt Martin (47th) said federal law enforcement agents and federal funding are what Chicago needs to fight crime.

"I think federal officers coming to work with CPD to help get guns off the street, and then reinstating the federal funding cuts around violence prevention are two huge steps where the federal government can help public safety in Chicago," he said.

When it comes to a timeframe, Hopkins said he's not aware of when federal officers or the National Guard could be in place in Chicago, but predicted a slow escalation of the process, with the staging area at Naval Station Great Lakes in the northern suburbs.

Vice President JD Vance said Wednesday the federal government has "no immediate plans" to send National Guard forces to Chicago, one day after President Trump again threatened to send in federal troops.

The president had told reporters Tuesday that "we're going in" to Chicago, but "I didn't say when." 

Asked by reporters for details on a possible Guard deployment in Chicago, Vance deferred to Mr. Trump on Wednesday, before saying: "There are no immediate plans, but the president has said he has the legal authority to protect American citizens, whether that's in Chicago or in Washington, D.C."