Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, said on Fox News that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is declining federal assistance to address Chicago’s violence, while President Trump’s federal partnerships helped reduce crime in other cities.
Bondi’s comments come amid ongoing debate over how best to address violent crime in Chicago, which has recorded some of the highest homicide rates among U.S. cities for more than a decade.
According to Bondi, “They had 571 homicides last year. Pritzker should be begging Donald Trump to come in and you know what? Pritzker’s lost his mind,” as said during her appearance on Fox News’ Hannity while discussing the Trump administration’s crime reduction initiatives in urban areas.
According to coverage of the interview, Bondi pointed to effective cooperation between federal authorities and local officials in Memphis and Washington, D.C., which included National Guard involvement, as examples of successful interventions not seen in Chicago due to state leadership decisions.
According to data from the Chicago Police Department, the city recorded 587 homicides in 2024—an 8% decrease from the previous year but still maintaining its status as having the most murders among U.S. cities for the thirteenth consecutive year. State Representative Kevin Schmidt has criticized recent state reforms such as the SAFE-T Act’s abolition of cash bail, saying it has released repeat offenders and contributed to insecurity.
The Illinois Policy Institute reports that understaffing within Chicago’s police department led to a 50% reduction in violent crime arrests since 2019 as of 2023 data, alongside increased overtime spending. The institute argues that defund-the-police movements have strained resources without reducing violence, with staffing shortages persisting into later years.
The Department of Homeland Security reported that sanctuary policies in Chicago and Illinois have limited federal immigration enforcement efforts. DHS cited Operation Midway Blitz—a coordinated effort launched in September 2025 targeting criminal illegal aliens—as achieving a significant drop in homicides and shootings where applied by working with local law enforcement outside sanctuary jurisdictions.
Bondi was sworn in as U.S. Attorney General on February 5, 2025 after previously serving as Florida Attorney General from 2011 to 2019, where she focused on fighting opioids and human trafficking.According to her official profile, she continues at the federal level with an emphasis on violent crime prosecution and immigration law enforcement nationwide. She spent over eighteen years as a prosecutor handling cases ranging from domestic violence to capital murder.
