Blue Illinois politicians are singing the blues over President Trump’s announced dispatch of National Guard troops from Texas to Chicago.  Senator Dick Durbin used an October 7 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to demand that Attorney General Pam Bondi provide the “legal rationale” for the deployment.  Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker looks to reprise Oregon’s lawfare and get some federal district judge to bar the troops.  Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson is declaring “ICE-free” zones in the Windy City.

If Senator Durbin would like a “rationale,” try this one: 773 murders in Cook County in 2024.  That’s 571 in Chicago itself plus the rest in the county.

Now, at a certain level, numbers become anesthetizing: 773 killings sounds big, but it’s hard to imagine 773 people at one time.  So let’s concretize that.  Seven hundred seventy-three killings means one person slaughtered every 11.3 hours, or two murders per day. 

Do our politicians singing the deployment blues really think two murders per day is “normal”?  Just another day in Chicagoland?  This past weekend, they were extolling a “normal” time in Chicago.  Do you want to include two killings per day in your tourism promos?

Chicago clocked about 8,000 aggravated assaults in 2024.  Somehow I think “Choose Chicago” — the city’s official tourism agency — won’t find many takers choosing the chance for one assault every 67 minutes.

If Governor Pritzker is so worried about legality, I suggest he and any judge ready to give him a temporary restraining order forgo police protection.  I’d like to see either one take a walk unescorted around West or East Garfield Park or South Shore.  Maybe grab a bus rather than rely on private vehicles?  Oh, and leave the state police and the federal marshals at home.

If Mayor Johnson thinks he can constrain federal law enforcement, well, let’s send the mayor to remedial civics education.  State and local nullification of federal law (and law enforcement authority) went out decisively in 1865 at a place called Appomattox.  If he thinks he can hamstring federal law enforcement, let him try: It would set a good example to prosecute an overreaching local official for obstruction of justice.

As President Trump seeks to expand deployments to crime-ridden cities around America, local politicians are busy trying to prove Mark Twain’s old adage about “lies, damn lies, and statistics.”  Baltimore, where the mayor wants to be governor and the governor thinks he’s presidential timber, also pretends to a “renaissance.”  The Baltimore Police Department and the press both cite drops in crime percentages — e.g., murders in Charm City were down at least a fifth in 2024.  What the stats cover up is that Baltimore’s murders went from 259 to 203.  But 203 murders still means a murder at least every other day.  Again, a society that thinks that’s normal...isn’t.

Collecting Illinois crime statistics for 2024 proved harder than I thought, which makes one wonder why.  Patchwork county reporting, especially for smaller counties, complicates a definitive total.  Reasonable estimates, however, suggest a statewide sum of 2024 murders at around 1,100 (about one every eight hours, meaning every shift is covered every day, giving new meaning to the “graveyard” shift).  One should note, however, that over 70% of that statewide number comes from Chicago and Cook County, so it’s rather clear where the problem lies. 

In her testimony, Attorney General Bondi told the Judiciary Committee about the kinds of arrests, including senior drug cartel members, ICE and DOJ have already picked up in Chicago.  She also noted how sanctuary Illinois does not cooperate on detainers, meaning some of these kingpins were already in but released from Illinois custody.  Durbin used the hearing to criticize Bondi for cuts in federal funding to Chicago, claiming they imperil public safety.  But you don’t need extra money to turn over criminals you’re already holding.  All you need is the U.S. attorney’s number. 

It’s imperative for the administration to convey what’s going on in these kinds of terms, because the Johnsons, Pritzkers, and Durbins of the world are masters of obfuscation, trying to change the storyline to blame the president while absolving themselves of responsibility for running a state where three murders have replaced three meals a day. 

Image via Pixabay.