Chicago City Wire

Alderman Raymond Lopez of Chicago's 15th Ward said that Governor J.B. Pritzker seems at ease with a certain number of victims as crime and violence escalated over the Labor Day weekend, while President Trump has offered to send federal support.

"How many victims are we comfortable with," said Lopez, Alderman, 15th Ward. "Because that's ultimately the subtext of what the mayor and the governor are saying is that we are comfortable with the amount of victims we have right now."

In September 2025, President Donald Trump announced plans to deploy National Guard troops and federal agents to Chicago to address what he described as out-of-control crime, according to Reuters. The move was immediately rebuffed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and Governor J.B. Pritzker, who called it unconstitutional and unnecessary. Johnson issued an executive order refusing city cooperation with federal agents.

According to AP News, Chicago endured a violent Labor Day weekend in 2025, with at least eight people killed and 50 wounded across 37 separate shootings, as confirmed by the Chicago Police Department. This marks an uptick from the previous year, despite a broader 31% year-to-date drop in homicides—278 killings through August—compared to the same period in 2024. The violence remained highly concentrated in the city’s South and West Side neighborhoods.

The spike in holiday gun violence prompted a sharp political response: President Trump used the statistics to criticize local leadership and reiterated plans to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, according to AP News. Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson both rejected the proposal, arguing it would escalate tensions rather than enhance safety. Their opposition has intensified a broader debate over the balance between federal intervention and local approaches to combating violent crime in the city.

Raymond Lopez has served as the alderman of Chicago’s 15th Ward since 2015. A former Democratic committeeman, he was the first openly gay Mexican-American elected to public office in Illinois. Known for his outspoken views on crime and city governance, Lopez has frequently clashed with city leadership and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2024.