Our nation is at a crossroads. Two questions demand urgent answers: Will the National Guard remain a shield for citizens in crisis? Will the uniform remain a symbol of public trust? The Union League Club of Chicago answers firmly: Citizen soldiers must be deployed pursuant to the rule of law only to safeguard liberty and only out of genuine necessity.
Since 1879, our club has held fast to its founding principles — loyalty to the federal government, defense of the republic’s integrity and accountability at every level of government. We have lived those principles by supporting the men and women of our armed forces, aiding their families and honoring veterans. We know well that military service is a sacred trust between soldiers and their fellow citizens.
Deployments undertaken for reasons other than clear necessity weaken that public trust and quickly lead to soldiers returning home not with pride but with disillusionment. This takes a heavy toll on morale, families and the spirit of volunteerism that sustains a citizen soldier force.
The costs are measured not only in morale but also in diverted resources. Communities may face fires and floods without the support of their guard if it is deployed elsewhere. Every dollar spent and every duty assigned either strengthen or weaken public confidence in our military. Therefore, we urge leaders at all levels of government to prioritize public trust when making decisions regarding National Guard deployments.
All who serve deserve missions that honor their sacrifice.
— Frank DeVincentis, president, Union League Club of Chicago
Reception for the guard
I hope we Chicagoans will remember our Midwestern manners when welcoming National Guard troops to Chicago who are from other states. Most members of the guard signed up to serve their state and fellow citizens, often in times of natural disaster, and not to travel around the country as law enforcement officers. Unlike the president who’s sending them here, most guard members are thoughtful about their duties and intend no harm to others.
I also hope Chicagoans will join me at peaceful protests and politely say, “Welcome to Chicago — now please go home!”
— Mark McKelvey, Chicago
Don’t react to the troops
Not many Chicago residents are happy to see that President Donald Trump has finally sent the National Guard to our city. We don’t need these troops or want them strolling around Chicago under the guise of protecting us against who knows what. But before we get too worked up about their presence, understand that the guard members are probably not thrilled to be activated to carry out Trump’s fool’s errand.
I was a guard member who served in the late 1960s and early ’70s, and not many of us wanted to leave our families and jobs to stare down protesters or corral overzealous demonstrators, especially after the horrors of Kent State. National Guard soldiers have a sworn duty to uphold the law and deal with domestic emergencies, but only if state and local law enforcement asks for their help.
So, ignore the troops, leave them alone and do not give them an excuse to react. In time, they’ll be eager to pack up and leave.
— Michael Oakes, Chicago
Maybe a police procession
A good way to support the Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Chicago, which apparently need protection, would be to have police cars follow the agents, with sirens and lights, which would also help the National Guard folks, who probably don’t know their way around town.
— Paul Dufresne, Chicago
Treated like battlegrounds
Our communities are not battlegrounds.
The Donald Trump administration and its allies are playing a dangerous game. Their inflammatory rhetoric isn’t just irresponsible — it’s a calculated effort to provoke violence, create chaos and justify an authoritarian crackdown. This is not leadership. It’s incitement.
We must be clear about what’s happening: If violence erupts, they’ll use it as cover to declare states of emergency, deploy militarized forces and treat our cities like war zones. These tactics are designed to intimidate, suppress dissent and dismantle democratic safeguards under the guise of “restoring order.” It’s an abuse of power — and a direct threat to the rights and safety of every American.
This is not politics as usual. This is a test of whether democracy survives. Labeling communities as battlegrounds, turning citizens into targets and using force as a political weapon are how democracies die. It’s happening here, right now.
We cannot fall into their trap. Violence only feeds their agenda. Our strength lies in mass, sustained, nonviolent resistance. We must speak out, show up and refuse to be silenced. Protect the vote. Defend civil liberties. Demand accountability. The future of our republic depends on it.
Show up for the “No Kings” event on Oct. 18.
— Deb Martin, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
More Top Picks ]
Nonviolent resistance
The Oct. 7 editorial was right (“We need our leaders to stay cool as ICE-related chaos gets hot”): We do need our leaders to stay cool as Immigration and Customs Enforcement-related chaos gets hot. I would like to add that all Chicagoans should stay cool. The Donald Trump administration is putting on a crude show of force, trying to provoke an angry response to and possibly action against ICE agents, which would justify their false claim that Chicago is out of control and needs a federal crackdown. Don’t fall for it.
Remember Mahatma Gandhi beat the British with nonviolent resistance.
— S.M. Schneider, Chicago
Blame where it belongs
It’s long past due that the Tribune Editorial Board starts taking a stand against the actions of this administration. Tell me the last time an administration put armed federal agents on the streets of any U.S. city.
I realize the editorial board is urging calm to protect both sides, but the current administration knows no restraint. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
It’s the editorial board’s time to put the blame where it belongs, and it doesn’t have an Illinois ZIP code!
— John M. Wray, Downers Grove
How can we just stand by?
I unfortunately but pretty much expected the Tribune Editorial Board to have such a milquetoast and out-of-touch take on this issue. The board clearly doesn’t get how just because something is legal doesn’t make it right or just, as in the racial profiling of supposed immigrants, leading to the detainment and/or deportation of nonviolent undocumented people, legal residents and even U.S. citizens. This is clearly an example of systemic racism at play, yet the board wants us to sit back and wave signs as long as ICE gets to keep doing what it’s doing. That isn’t justice; that’s capitulating to an unjust system.
It may be technically illegal to impede ICE, but it’s our moral imperative to do so when the law enforced by the government is destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands. Is it really going too far when the consequences of us standing by are so incredibly great?
— Sebastian Borras-Ziems, Chicago
Failure to meet moment
In the Tribune Editorial Board’s “both sides” representation of the situation, it has lost all journalistic integrity. There are no “both sides” here. There is a military takeover of Chicago, and the board has capitulated to an authoritarian regime.
As a representative of the Fourth Estate, the Tribune Editorial Board is failing to meet the moment.
— Mindy Oshrain, Durham, North Carolina
Inflammatory rhetoric
Has anyone noticed how similar the rhetoric now coming from Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson is to what was coming from President Donald Trump on that fateful Jan. 6?
Who’s rousing the rabble now?
— Mike Noonan, Elmhurst
Exploitation of horror
For Democrats, it’s been a brutal year. Joe Biden’s disastrous debate set the stage for a collapse built on wishful thinking and ending in humiliation. Every attempt to stall Donald Trump’s momentum failed as he steamrolled back into the Oval Office.
Then came the unimaginable: the assassination of a leading Republican voice. For a brief moment, the nation froze. Barely a year had passed since the failed attempt on Trump’s life, and now another act of political violence had forced itself into history. Shock gave way to grief — and then, almost immediately, to politics.
Because politics in America have no pause button. No one seriously believes Democrats would conspire to murder. But even without intent, tragedy can become opportunity. As Rahm Emanuel once said: Never let a crisis go to waste.
And so, a moment that should have united the country instead became a rallying point. A party beaten down by loss suddenly found energy — not through persuasion, not through vision, but through the exploitation of horror.
This is where we are. Violence no longer lurks at the edges of our politics; it has entered the bloodstream, spun into narrative and weaponized as strategy.
The true tragedy is not just the lives lost, but the cynicism with which those lives are exploited. When violence becomes political currency, the wound runs deeper than elections. It pierces the nation’s soul.
America is bleeding, and politics are drinking the blood.
— Scott Thompson, Bloomington, Indiana
What history teaches us
I am a retired history teacher who has always believed that if we hide from or don’t learn from history, it will repeat itself. It is repeating itself today.
Think about the Kristallnacht event in November 1938 in Germany and then the TV news headline “Federal troops, jumping from Black Hawk helicopters, invade a Chicago apartment building.”
History is screaming at us: Beware, America!
— Mary Herrick, Gilberts, Illinois
The editorial board’s role
For many days now, the front page of the Tribune has focused on the heartbreaking stories of families being torn apart by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the city and suburbs. Too often, the people being detained are hardworking, taxpaying, upstanding members of our community — not the criminals the president promised to arrest. I commend the Tribune and its reporters for telling these stories. While they are often a sad way to start my days, the reporting is necessary and eye-opening.
It is thus disheartening to turn to the editorial page and read about things such as the proposals for fixing gerrymandering in the state. While gerrymandering is a problem, the more immediate issue should be what is on the front page of the newspaper.
In my opinion, the editorial board should be focusing on the ICE invasion of our city. The board should be voicing its support of our mayor and our governor, who are risking their political futures to stand up for our immigrant families. Like the mayor and the governor, the editorial board should be voicing its outrage at the activities of ICE in our community and demanding accountability from the federal government.
Please do a better job of supporting our immigrant community members!
— Elsa Miller, Evanston
Change law if it’s unjust
It was not long ago that voters across the country thought it was time for a change in the law. Voters considered arrests and convictions for breaking that law a waste of police enforcement resources, and so did many police agencies. Despite personal and political views to the contrary, law enforcement agencies across the country enforced the law. Voters in many jurisdictions decided to change the law. As a result, the recreational use of marijuana is now legal in 24 of the 50 states and for medical use in 40 states.
Another law that many voters disagree with relates to immigration. So much so that states such as Illinois and cities such as Chicago classify themselves as “sanctuaries.” Implicit in that term, apparently, is the notion that political powers in these sanctuaries will protect people who have entered our country without complying with the immigration process. Many of these immigrants have been here for years. They may be otherwise law-abiding, hardworking, taxpaying citizens, but like it or not, they still broke the law and continue to do so every day they make no effort to comply with the immigration process.
Gov. JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson, as well as many voters, think that’s OK and that those immigrants should be left alone. They object when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents enforce that law. They object to being targeted, even though they openly advertise our state and Chicago as sanctuaries.
More Top Picks Bike Locks
If you don’t like the law, seek to change it. If you want to be left alone, don’t become a sanctuary. Pritzker and Johnson asked for the fight we are currently in with federal law enforcement. For years, they have encouraged immigrants to move to our state and our cities. They flaunt federal law and oppose its enforcement.
If you think people who came to this country and have been here for years without obtaining documented status deserve a pass, you are among countless voters who believe it’s time for a change. Instead of crying foul when the feds enforce the law, how about using your political muscle and powers of persuasion to form a coalition of states to change the law?
Until then, may I respectfully suggest you stand down and stop trying to oppose legitimate enforcement of a federal law you disagree with?
— Bill Seith, Hinsdale
Where is our humanity?
My heart is broken. I am ashamed of and afraid for my country. A family member lives in an area that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is targeting. She is hyper-alert for ICE sightings in order to help and protect her neighbors.
This treatment of people is despicable and morally reprehensible. We are all children of God. Where is our shared humanity, our dignity, our respect for others?
May God help us.
— Elizabeth Butler Marren, Chicago
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].